The Value of the Visitor Economy

Visitors significantly contribute to the Asheville economy. Back in 1983, visitors brought just over $82 million into Buncombe County businesses. Through investment and promotion over the last four decades, that spending has grown 35X to nearly $3 billion in 2023, comprising 20% of Buncombe County's GDP.

For the last two years, Buncombe County has ranked third in all of North Carolina for visitor spending, behind Mecklenburg and on the heels of Wake County.

The benefits of visitor spending are distributed across many business categories. Although the occupancy tax shoulders 100% of the destination marketing investment for our community, lodging partners in 2023 garnered just under a third of the visitor spending at 30%. Restaurants and breweries, local shops, recreation, entertainment, and tour providers and transportation companies reaped 70% the lion’s share of visitor spending rewards.