Harrisonburg Tourism, a division of the City of Harrisonburg’s Economic Development Department, has focused on new initiatives to help the local tourism economy recover from pandemic challenges. This includes working with Southern Living magazine on a feature article that attracts visitors and collaborating with travel writers in the Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., areas to reach tourists looking for nearby weekend trips.
It has promoted key local events, such as the ESPN Gameday visit to James Madison University, and collaborations like a new Rocktown Trails addition at Hillandale Park.
“We diversified our marketing strategy in 2023, focusing on public relations and travel writers in addition to paid ads to help drive visitors to the area,” Harrisonburg Tourism Manager Jennifer Bell explained. “We reached out to metro areas where visitors can drive for a long weekend getaway and placed digital ads and ads in sports programs which have a long shelf-life by sports fans in order to draw more people.”
Increased tourism spending positively impacts local community members. According to Tourism Economics, a typical Virginia household paid $955 less in state and local taxes for services in 2023 due to tourism spending in the state.
