Richmond region tourism keeps going strong

The big picture: Visitors spent $3.7 billion in the Richmond region last year, according to the latest stats from Richmond Region Tourism.

• That's a 7.4% increase over the previous year when tourist spending surpassed pre-pandemic levels for the first time.

Zoom in: Sports tournaments are the main driver behind the visitation surge to Richmond.

• Those can include regional fencing bouts in downtown Richmond, state softball tourneys in Chesterfield, major league bass fishing on the James or the A-10 Women's Basketball Championship, happening in March in Henrico.

And Henrico County continues to be the leader in tourism dollars and sports tournaments.

By the numbers: Henrico raked in just under $1.9 billion in direct visitor spending in 2023, a 9.2% increase over the previous year.

• Richmond had $908 million in visitor spending, a 9% increase.
• Chesterfield, $601 million, up 3.2%.
• Hanover and Colonial Heights each saw modest year-over-year increases, too.

Stunning stat: Last year sports tourism accounted for 73% of group bookings to the Richmond region, up from 68% in the last two years.