Casino drives visitor spending growth in Southside

The region saw a 20% increase from 2022 to 2023, with spending levels from visitors to the area reaching $540 million, according to figures presented at the Second Annual Future of Hospitality and Tourism Workforce Summit held Friday.

“Southern Virginia’s spending growth is attributed to substantial growth in recreation spending, a direct impact of the Danville Casino,” Jai Girard, director of education and workforce development with the Virginia Restaurant Lodging Travel Association, said during her presentation to attendees at the summit.

Caesars Virginia’s temporary Danville Casino opened in Schoolfield on May 15, 2023. The full Caesars Virginia casino hotel resort is expected to open in December.

With the opening of the casino, recreation is now the largest share of spending in Danville and Pittsylvania County, accounting for $215 million in direct visitor spending, Girard said.

Casino spending is considered part of recreation spending, she said.

The five-hour summit was held at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research.

Friday’s summit featured guest speakers from the hospitality and tourism field, including faculty and staff members from Averett University and Virginia Tech. The keynote speaker was Andre Boulais, chief revenue officer at CNect.

Averett University and the Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business, with sponsorship support from Caesars Virginia, presented the summit to explore challenges and opportunities facing the hospitality and tourism sectors in Southern Virginia.

Presenters shared perspectives on new initiatives and challenges, building upon the continued momentum in hospitality workforce development in the region.

The event’s purpose was to bring together educators, business leaders, city officials and policymakers to share ideas and work toward change for hospitality workforce development in the Southern Virginia region.

The summit’s goals were to also provide a follow-up and progress report on last year’s summit, see what new initiatives have come about since last year, identify new challenges and continue to build momentum in hospitality workforce development in the Southern Virginia region.

Roughly 75 industry leaders were registered to attend the summit.

As for Southern Virginia’s performance, its 2023 visitor spending levels exceeded the 2019, pre-COVID amount by 38%, Girard said.

“Growth in Danville and Pittsylvania County lifted overall regional performance,” she said.

In addition, tourism in the region was responsible for $45 million in state and local tax money, 5,116 jobs and $142 million in payroll in Southern Virginia in 2023, according to her presentation that referred to figures from the 2023 Virginia Annual Economic Impact Study by Tourism Economics.

Tourism jobs in the region have exceeded 2019 levels while total statewide tourism employment numbers are still recovering following the pandemic, Girard said.

While Virginia as a whole has recovered its number of tourism jobs by 93% since 2019, Southern Virginia recovered by 110%, with Danville and Pittsylvania County’s figures experiencing recovery levels of 131% and 125%, respectively, she said.

“Recreation is the largest share of spending in this area,” Girard said, adding that visitor spending is 67% higher than 2019 levels in Danville and Pittsylvania County alone.

Excluding recreation, visitor spending in Danville and Pittsylvania County outgrew that of the state overall by 14%, exceeding the commonwealth’s average of 9.8%, Girard said.

Taking away recreation spending, Danville and Pittsylvania County visitor spending was 28% above 2019 levels, she said.

“Some of the other areas in Virginia are still slightly in recovery, but that’s clearly not an issue here in this area,” Girard said.