As Labor Day approaches, city leaders in Virginia Beach are keeping an eye on the number of hotel stays bringing tourism into the resort area.
During Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Vice Mayor Rosemary Wilson brought up the concern, saying that she understands some hotels experienced a 20% drop in recent years.
John Zirkle, President of the Virginia Beach Hotel Association said, “Hotels aren’t normally down 10, 15, 20% in July.” He added, “To be down that, is a substantial hit. Just figure if a hotel did a million dollars in revenue, and they’re down 20%, that’s $200,000.”
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Zirkle believes rainy weather in July hurt business, and he feels the economy is playing a role. Though he explained they’re seeing a trend of visitors booking shorter stays at higher-end hotels.
“In ‘21, ‘22, we had record years in Virginia Beach,” Zirkle said. “’23 was also a very good year. We got used to always having record year after year, and it’s really hard to do that three, four, five years in a row. So this year, I think we had a little pullback with the economy.”