Asheville’s hotel occupancy rates dipped slightly in the first half of 2024, compared with last year, but vacation rental occupancy experienced a minor uptick.
At its Aug. 28 meeting at the Explore Asheville boardroom at 27 College Place, Vic Isley, president and CEO of Explore Asheville, presented to 10 members of the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority (BCTDA) an optimistic picture of the local tourism industry despite what she called a soft national business environment. Board member Scott Patel was absent.
Compared with the first half of 2023, average hotel occupancy rates declined from 65% to 62%, while vacation rentals climbed a point, 49% to 50% for the same January-June period.
“Occupancy is a product of supply and demand. Hotel and vacation rental demand has not kept up with supply,” Isley said. In comparison, average hotel occupancy in Charleston, S.C., was 72% and 74% for Savannah, Ga., for the same period.
“We’ve seen this before,” Isley said, noting that beach destinations always outperform Asheville in the first half of the year, but Asheville exceeds them in the second half of the year, which includes two of the area’s strongest tourism months – July and October.
National trends show that short-term rentals detract from hotels, higher spending Americans are traveling overseas and presidential election years tend to be softer.
“And cruise lines are back, so that demand is an option in terms of travel,” Isley said.
“There’s hope here,” said Isley, noting that the number of Asheville air passengers was up 11% in the first six months of 2024. Air travelers tend to stay longer and spend more in the region, she said.
Visitors are still spending
Direct visitor spending hit $3 billion in 2023, a 35-fold increase since BCTDA launched in 1983. Tourism generates 20% of the gross domestic product in Buncombe County, Isley continued. Over $1 billion of that visitor-generated income went directly to local residents.
“For the first time, tourism generated income … supported 29,000 jobs, which is one in seven jobs throughout the county,” Isley said.
New faces
Board members Kathleen Mosher, who was board chair from 2021-23, and Scott Patel are stepping off the board. On Sept. 1, Tim Rosebrock, Biltmore’s vice president of compliance and legal services will replace Mosher. To replace lodging representative Patel, the board is interviewing Joe Balcken with Wrong Way Campground, Randy Claybrook with Bent Creek Lodge and Himanshu Karvir with Virtelle Hospitality.
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