3 days ago
Warner hears about challenges to Oceanfront economy
VIRGINIA BEACH (WAVY) — Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) listened Friday morning to the challenges facing restaurants, hotels and attractions that make up the local tourism economy as part of a roundtable discussion on the stage of the city's newest attraction, The Dome.
Previously: Virginia Beach tourism fuels $3.8 billion into local economy, report finds
The head of the Virginia Beach Hotel Association, John Zirkle, reminded Warner about a successful Memorial Day weekend, with on tap this weekend, and the the following weekend. It highlighted a subsegment of Oceanfront tourism — sports tourism.
'This whole notion of sports tourism didn't exist 20 years ago,' Warner told the panel and about 100 invited guests.
Mike Mauch, head of the , made his pitch to Warner.
'If there's any possible way to find funding mechanisms to help us to provide an even more broad spectrum of sports tourism, that would benefit the entire city,' Mauch said.
Zirkle cited 2023 figures, the latest available, about tourism overall: 14.1 million visitors to Virginia Beach with an economic impact of $3.8 billion. However, he said tariffs are making towels, sheets and blankets more and more expensive.
'We need some help with getting the tariffs under control,' Zirkle said. 'The back and forth is causing huge delays in shipping. It's causing huge price increases.'
And then there's an 80% funding cut for what's known as , the marketing of destinations in the U.S. to international tourists.
'As we look at international travel declining, whether it's Canadian or other countries that are off, it's really important that we get that [funding] back,' said Eric Terry, head of the .
North End native and landscape architect Billy Almond of the Resort Advisory Commission talked about resiliency.
'In my lifetime, I have seen the beach change dramatically,' he said. 'All the sand that we put at the south end is on 89th Street. We have a huge resource that needs to be studied and protected.'
'That's something I can take on,' Warner told reporters afterward. 'Unfortunately, there are efforts in Washington right now to cut out all resiliency funds. That makes no sense. If the beach erodes away, then a lot of this economy is going to be in real trouble.'
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