The paint-splattered Jefferson Davis statue is currently on display at The Valentine. (Photo by Scott Bass)
As social justice protests gripped the city and the Confederates fell on Monument Avenue in the summer of 2020, some worried the national publicity would negatively impact Richmond’s historic tourism industry.
Two years later, it appears the opposite is true.
“Our tourism is not suffering from either the monument removal or the social justice protests, and in many cases it’s doing better than in 2019,” says Katherine O’Donnell, executive vice president of Richmond Region Tourism.
A 2021 “image perception” study commissioned by the nonprofit found that those who visited scored the Richmond region 21 points higher than those who hadn’t. It also found that the tourism group’s OutRVA and BLK RVA initiatives, which highlight the LGBTQ community and Black-owned tourism businesses, elevated visitors’ “perceptions of welcomeness” by 20 points.
Overnight visitation is also rebounding. O’Donnell says 2019 was a banner year for visitation and hotel sales in the region. But in fiscal 2022, which ended June 30, the region’s hotel tax receipts eclipsed 2019’s numbers, reaching $30,079,655. After taking a hit during the height of the pandemic, overnight visitors climbed back to 6.4 million in 2021, a 30% increase from the year before.
“We feel like that’s a strong recovery,” O’Donnell says.
Bill Martin, director of The Valentine, says out-of-town visitation at the museum has increased steadily since the protests of 2020. During a media event unveiling the museum’s newest addition in June — the famously defaced Jefferson Davis statue, on loan from the Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia — Martin said out-of-towners are making the trek “with the sole intent to figure out what happened in 2020.”
“The kind of media coverage that the city received across the country related to the [protests] has actually increased public perception of the city — and in a positive way,” he said. “The city is now perceived as being open, welcoming, friendlier.”
