The City of Harrisonburg had a nearly 17 percent increase in tourism over pre-pandemic numbers that have grown every year since 2019.
Harrisonburg Tourism attributes its success to new marketing strategies including outreach to travel writers, advertising in metro areas for weekend trips and a bigger emphasis on public relations.
Visitors spent $242.2 million in Harrisonburg in 2023, according to numbers released from the Virginia Tourism Corporation this week.
The spending supported 2,678 jobs in Harrisonburg while contributing nearly $13 million to local tax revenue.
Southern Living magazine featured a lengthy article on Harrisonburg in fall 2023 that continues to attract visitors to the area. The tourism office has also worked with travel writers in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. to promote Harrisonburg as a weekend getaway.
Harrisonburg Tourism has also promoted key local events including the ESPN Gameday visit to James Madison University as well as Rocktown Trails at Hillandale Park.
“We diversified our marketing strategy in 2023 focusing on public relations and travel writers in addition to paid ads to help drive visitors to the area,” said Jennifer Bell, Harrisonburg tourism manager. “We reached out to metro areas where visitors can drive for a long weekend getaway and placed digital ads and ads in sports programs which have a long shelf-life by sports fans in order to draw more people.”
Increased tourism spending brings positive impacts to local community members. A typical Virginia household paid $955 less in state and local taxes for services they received in 2023 due to tourism spending in the state, according to annual impact data from Tourism Economics.
Harrisonburg Tourism supports local tourism-related businesses, provides promotional materials to showcase Harrisonburg, works with travel professionals to schedule meetings and conferences, and manages the Hardesty-Higgins Visitor Center.
More information about the City of Harrisonburg is online at www.HarrisonburgVA.gov.
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Crystal Graham
