Tourism spending in Guilford County nearly doubles since 2020 as Triad totals keep rising

(WGHP) — Tourism spending across the Piedmont Triad keeps climbing, even as the post-2020 surge begins to slow.

According to visitor spending data released Tuesday by Visit North Carolina, the state saw a 7.26% increase in tourism spending from $33.326 billion up to $35.631 billion, a new record for North Carolina. The Piedmont Triad saw a 6.92% increase from $3.655 billion to $3.920 billion.

Guilford County, the Triad’s top county for tourism spending and fifth in the state, issued a news release on Tuesday celebrating the county’s 8.7% increase from $1.547 billion in 2022 to $1.681 billion in 2023. Last year’s total came out to nearly double the $849 million the county earned in 2020.

“Everyone benefits from tourists to our community,” Greensboro Convention & Visitors Bureau President and CEO Henri Fourrier said in a statement. “Increased tourism spending creates jobs, supports local businesses, and generates tax revenue that benefits our community. Every dollar tourists spend enhances the quality of life in Guilford County.”

The Greensboro Area Convention & Visitors Bureau highlighted that visitors spend more than $97 million per day in North Carolina, which adds to state and local tax revenue, “saving each Guilford County resident $203.50 per year in taxes. Tourism supports public safety, emergency services, and public education.”

Zooming out to the bigger picture, tourism spending in North Carolina has risen each year since 2020, no surprise following a year marked by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and related business closures.

The state reports that, in the Piedmont Triad, there was about $2.029 billion in tourism spending in 2020 . That total leaped by 52.8% up to $3.100 billion in 2021 as the tourism industry began to recover. By county, the Triad saw between a 37.9% increase (Davie County) and a 65.0% increase (Randolph County) from 2020 to 2021.

The following year tempered that dramatic rise as tourism spending in the Triad increased by 19.7% to $3.655 billion in 2022 . Tourism spending grew between 3.8% (Randolph County) and 34.9% (Davidson County).

Then, in 2023 , tourism spending grew by a more modest 8.7% to 3.920 billion. No Triad counties saw more than 9% tourism spending growth. Counties grew between 1.7% (Stokes County) and 8.7% (Guilford County).

At this point, it's still too early to tell if those annual gains will continue to decline or if North Carolina may be hitting a more stable annual increase as we get further out from 2020.

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