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Aug 28, 2024
In 1983, visitors spent slightly more than $82 million at Buncombe County businesses. Through investment and promotion over the last four decades, that spending has grown 35 times to $2.97 billion in 2023, according to recent Tourism Economics data. The nearly $3 billion in visitor spending benefits a wide variety of local independent businesses, with 70% occurring outside of lodging. For the first time, tourism-generated income exceeded $1 billion for area residents. Nearly 2,000 Explore Asheville partner businesses and organizations both serve and benefit from guests of our community. We are grateful for your partnership and your role in delivering quality experiences and services to customers each and every day.
Other takeaways from the August board meeting include:
- July lodging occupancy and demand, plus new vacation rental insights;
- Analyses on midyear lodging performance and hotel and vacation rental performance by comparative markets;
- Update on the FY25 marketing strategy to support businesses, sustain livelihoods for residents, and generate necessary tax revenues for government partners;
- Gratitude to outgoing board members Kathleen Mosher and Scott Patel.
Following the meeting, board members and staff attended the groundbreaking ceremony for McCormick Field renovations, made possible by a $23 million major works Tourism Product Development Product (TPDF) investment in partnership with the City, County, and Tourists Baseball Club.
As part of that partnership, we are celebrating the 2nd annual Travel & Hospitality Night at McCormick Field tonight. Commemorative jerseys benefitting AIR's Financial Empowerment Program are also available for auction or purchase. Heroes of Hospitality recipient and Lobster Trap chef de partie Mario Gaspar will throw the first pitch at 6:15pm. We hope to see you there!
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| July Lodging Occupancy Settles Peak Summer |
| Total Roomight Demand Up 5% Fiscal Year to Date |
July hotel occupancy was down three points from 2023 and eight points from 2019. Vacation rental occupancy was up three points from 2023 and two points from 2019.
July hotel demand grew 5% from 2019 to 2024, while vacation rental demand grew 57% over the same period.
| View the Latest Destination Dashboard |
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| New Vacation Rental Occupancy Insights for 2023 |
| Real-Time Data Reveals Deeper Vacation Rental Occupancy Story |
Key Data offers real-time insights into vacation rental property use, breaking down when properties are owner-occupied, on hold for maintenance, or rented out. On average last year, owners occupied their secondary homes 14% of the time and rented them 34% of the time. This data aligns with what we hear from vacation rental management companies in our community.
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| 2024 Midyear Lodging Performance Update |
| Comparing First Half of 2024 to Same Period of Prior Two Years |
Occupancy is a product of supply and demand, and locally, total lodging demand has not kept up with supply. The average hotel occupancy for the first half of 2024 has decreased compared to the same period in 2022 and 2023. Vacation rental occupancy is on par with the first half of 2023 but lower than the first half of 2022.
Hotel demand in the first half of 2024 increased by less than 1% compared to the first half of 2023, while vacation demand rose by 5% during the same period.
Supply also rose in the first half of 2024 compared to the first half of 2023. Hotel supply increased by 4.5%, while vacation rentals rose by 5.6%.
The average daily rate (ADR), or the average cost seen by consumers, remains steady with a boost from whole-house vacation rentals. Hotel ADR and RevPAR in Charleston and Savannah are tracking ahead of Asheville, remaining consistent with previous years. Vacation rental ADR and RevPar also tracked behind coastal and warmer destinations, as expected for the first half of the year.
We anticipate a performance boost in the second half of the calendar year, driven by the traditionally top-performing months of July and October.
Asheville is still faced with the following national headwinds impacting visitation.
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National Trends |
Local Performance |
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STR & Tourism Economics lowered projections for 2024 U.S. hotel occupancy, rates and revenue |
Asheville market traditionally has higher performance in back half of calendar year, including July & October |
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Hotel demand growth undershot U.S. GDP growth, historically unusual as the metrics typically correlate closely |
Lodging demand has not kept pace with increase in supply; opportunity to absorb inventory in next 12-18 months |
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Higher-spending travelers continue to venture abroad and return to larger US cities |
AVL air passengers up 11% through June 2024, drive visitors lag |
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Short-term rentals continue to take share from hotels; cruise line demand recovers |
Vacation rental demand growth continues to outpace hotel demand growth (57% vs. 5% since 2019) |
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Demand drops for economy & midscale hotels as some consumers grow more cost conscious due to inflation & election year uncertainties |
Economy hotel performance lags and has lost construction worker lodging to vacation rentals |
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| FY25 Marketing Strategy |
| Upcoming Media Partnerships for Business and Event Recruitment |
Given national headwinds and to support businesses, sustain livelihoods for residents, and generate necessary tax revenues for government partners, our team is engaging the following three marketing and destination promotion strategies:
- Continue consistent marketing engagement with core drive markets, while also focusing on quality visits from air visitors.
- Seek out integrated marketing partnerships including experiences here in Asheville, creating concrete visitation.
- Implement always-on marketing investments, while rotating seasonal and specialty market messaging.
Vice President of Marketing Dodie Stephens shared this fiscal year’s target markets, priorities, media channels, and promotional calendar. Geographic targets are set based on market size, proximity, direct airlift access, online demand, past performance, advertising costs, and insights from data partners like Zartico and Arrivalist who provide visitor movement and spending data.
Eighty percent of Explore Asheville’s marketing investments focus on regional drive markets that are geo-informed to capture quality visits across five market tiers. Zartico data helps assess market share and the quality visits when selecting feeder markets.
The remaining 20% targets air travel markets, focusing on visitors who stay longer and spend more. Publishing partners provide the greatest opportunity for Asheville area storytelling and also create additive business and local production efforts.
Bal Harbour Shops partnership welcomes affluent, frequent customers to Asheville in an immersive way. Bal Harbour in Miami is the most profitable shopping center in the world by revenue and square foot. Shot during this summer, a 12-page fashion photo shoot will introduce key areas and attributes of Asheville to readers of BH Magazine’s Fall and Holiday issues.
Behind sports, weddings are the second largest group market segment booked by Explore Asheville. Town & Country will shoot its editorial weddings section in Asheville, capturing the city’s natural beauty and colorful culture in a multi-page editorial feature to debut in an upcoming spring 2025 issue.
Asheville’s sustainability stories will come alive at Garden & Gun’s third annual Champions of Conservation. The Cocktails and Conservation event boosts travel and ticket sales while creating opportunities for business development. It is cross-promoted with Land to Market's Covering Ground regenerative agriculture conference at Hickory Nut Gap, encouraging additional midweek travel.
A sold-out Travel + Leisure Always Asheville Reader Trip this November hosts a curated itinerary that elevates the Asheville area and offers exclusive access to distinctive activities.
A culinary-focused partnership centered around Travel + Leisure’s highly popular Best New Chefs issue in October delves deeper into the Asheville area’s culinary roots and current innovations, positioning Asheville as Foodtopia through immersive and engaging content.
Regarding owned channels, Explore Asheville will relaunch a new website after a year of design and development. The updated mobile-first site features more engagement opportunities, such as video activations, a cleaner user interface, snackable content like fact cards, an improved fall color map, and weekly fall color reports. From August to mid-November, the website attracts 1.3 million users, garnering the intention to draw visitors into our marketing funnels and establish connections with them for future travel.
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| Thank You Outgoing Board Members |
| Help Us Honor Kathleen and Scott at the BCTDA Annual Meeting |
Our departing board members will be honored at the 2024 BCTDA Annual Meeting. We hope you will join us on Sept. 16 at the Crest Center & Pavilion from 3–6 pm!
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MORE INFORMATION & NEXT MEETING OF BCTDA
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Delivering Balanced
& Sustainable Growth
Encouraging Safe & Responsible Travel
Engaging & Inviting More Diverse Audiences
Promoting & Supporting Asheville's
Creative Spirit
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