MORGANTOWN – It’s become a bit of a go-to statistic for state Tourism Secretary Chelsea Ruby.
For every 100 people who visit West Virginia, 87 will return.
She never tires of sharing it.
“I don’t ever want to be a bucket list destination. A bucket list destination is a place that you come to, you check it off the list and you move on to the next place. We want to be the opposite of that. We want to be a place that you come to and you keep coming back year after year,” Ruby said Tuesday during the fourth annual Mountaineer Country Tourism Summit held at WVU’s Erickson Alumni Center.
After all, she explains, West Virginia has what people are seeking, whether they realize it or not – an opportunity to slow down, disconnect from the digital crush of daily life and tap into the power of nature.
If you can give someone that experience once, chances are they’ll want more.
The numbers bear that out.
Bolstered by increased tourism spending in 2017 and 2018, West Virginia had its best year on record for tourism in 2019.
Then COVID put the clamps on the entire industry, creating a watershed moment.
“The tourism industry will forever compare things to pre-COVID, to 2019. That is our benchmark,” Ruby said.
And since the lockdown, tourism in West Virginia has been on a rocket ride.
Nationwide, visitor spending has grown by an average of 12% since 2019. West Virginia has more than doubled that, at 28%.
It’s done so, in large part, by telling West Virginia’s story both in state and nationwide, with a targeted emphasis on the large regional cities – New York, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., and others.
“The best news that I have for you today is that all of it is working. Not only are we changing the perceptions of the way people think about West Virginia, but we’re generating real economic impact. Today in West Virginia, travelers are helping us create an annual economic impact of over $9 billion, with a B. We have over $6 billion in direct traveler spending. That’s taking out any multiplier. It’s the exact amount being spent in West Virginia per year,” Ruby said. “That spending generates over a billion in tax revenue. It’s the first time we’ve gone over a billion, and we’re really, really proud of that.”
Ruby went on to say tourism supports one in 15 jobs in the state.
“We’ve got about 70,000 people, if you look at the larger hospitality and tourism industry. But the most impressive statistic that we have is that over the next five years, it is projected that we are going to have 21,000 job openings annually,” she said. “We don’t have the people to fill those. So this has been an area of emphasis for us over the last several years, and one that will continue to be.”
One of the mechanisms created to help meet that need is the Tourism Works program, a collaboration with Blue Ridge Community and Technical College, in Martinsburg, through which individuals can earn college credit while gaining the skills to become an official ambassador for the state.
In just over a year, nearly 25,000 individuals have been issued micro-credentials through the program.
Ruby said tourism is growing in every part of the state.
Ultimately, she continued, the engaged, informed and accommodating people of West Virginia, and, in particular, the state’s tourism professionals, are the reason why.
“It may look like we do a lot of heavy lifting at the Department of Tourism when it comes to advertising. But I’ll tell you, we do the easy work. We put out the ads. We make sure they look pretty. We make sure ‘County Roads’ sounds alright. You do the heavy lifting. In the communities, you all are the people who are welcoming people. You’re the people who are providing those experiences, the friendly places, and you all are the reason that people keep coming back to West Virginia.”
