Spanberger team taking credit for tourism growth that happened on Youngkin’s watch

Tourism-related spending in Virginia has increased 3.1 percent, according to a release from the office of Gov. Abigail Spanberger, which, oddly, didn’t specify the time frame for the increase.

I know why, but let me get you there.

I tried to get an answer on the time frame from the governor’s press office, which hasn’t been easy to get answers from in the past – and then when I mentioned that I was having that issue, they had somebody call me to tell me that they’d be better in the future.

I emailed a quick question to the press office four hours ago, at this writing, trying to pin down the time frame for this tourism increase – calendar year 2025, or fiscal year 2025?

No answer.

This is important, seems to me, because CY 2025 is the final 12 full months of the Youngkin administration, while FY 2025 is six months and two weeks of Youngkin, five weeks and two months of Spanberger.

So, either this 3.1 percent increase being touted is all on Youngkin’s watch, or 54.2 percent on Youngkin’s watch.

Now, to be clear, I don’t go out of my way to give Glenn Youngkin credit for knowing which shoe to put on which foot, but still.

With no direct answer from the press office, I’m going to go with the Spanberger folks bragging here about CY 2025, because another line in the release notes that “Virginia’s record-setting momentum has continued into 2026.”

So, tourism spending is up, and it was a state-record $36.2 billion, in CY 2025, the final full 12 months of the Youngkin term.

The release from the current governor’s office nonetheless tries to take credit for something that happened on Youngkin’s watch, making the claim that the success “reflects Virginia’s long-term path for tourism growth through the Commonwealth’s Statewide Strategic Tourism Plan, which Governor Spanberger launched in April 2026.”

No, it doesn’t; the success reported today reflects the Youngkin folks doing something that I am loathe to give them credit for, but, credit is due them.

The numbers for calendar year 2026 will be Spanberger numbers; her folks can brag about CY 2026 all they want.