Fast Facts – Tourism at a Glance

• The Hampton Roads region has over 40,000 hotel rooms. Norfolk has over 5,100 hotel rooms, including over 1,500 in Downtown Norfolk.
• Three new hotels opened in 2009: Candlewood Suites and Holiday Inn Express and Suites near the Norfolk International Airport and the Residence Inn in Downtown Norfolk.
• Tourism and conventions employ over 7,000 workers in Norfolk and generate $24.2 million in state taxes and $22.4 million in local tax revenue
• Travelers to Norfolk spend nearly $680 million annually
• The nation’s first hotel utilizing new market tax credits, Springhill Suites, opened on the campus of Old Dominion University in 2006.
• The city acquired the Battleship Wisconsin in spring 2010. Since 2001, 2.2 million visitors have toured the USS Wisconsin, which saw action in World War II, Korea and the first Gulf War.
• Of the top most frequently visited cities in the state, Williamsburg, Virginia Beach, and Norfolk rank just behind Richmond.

Sources: Virginia Tourism Corporation, VisitNorfolk, and City of Norfolk