Traveler Spending Hits $1 Billion In Alexandria, Tourism Organization Reports

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Travelers from more than 50 miles away spent a record $1 million for the first time in Alexandria's history, according to Visit Alexandria.

Visit Alexandria, the membership-based tourism organization for the city, reported the tourism data at its annual membership meeting on Thursday. Traveler spending increased 8 percent from the previous year, and this growth outpaced Northern Virginia and Virginia.

"The continued success of Alexandria’s tourism industry, including reaching the $1 billion milestone in tourism spending, is directly attributable to the strategic and impactful work of Visit Alexandria," said Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins. "Their efforts to elevate our city’s profile have generated measurable growth in tourism, support for local businesses, and enhanced civic pride. Visit Alexandria’s initiatives have not only attracted visitors to our city but also contributed significantly to job creation and economic vitality."

In addition to overall spending, Visit Alexandria tracks consumption tax revenues that visitors contribute to — sales, meals and lodging taxes. In fiscal year 2025, these combined tax revenues reached $88 million, up from $86 million in the previous fiscal year. Visit Alexandria sees increases in these tax revenues as a way to support core city services and reduce the tax burden on residents.

At the meeting, Visit Alexandria highlighted high-profile travel rankings such as being in the top five of Travel + Leisure’s Top U.S. Cities in 2025 and third among Condé Nast Traveler Best Small Cities in the U.S.

Visit Alexandria shared its initiatives to support tourism in the current fiscal year at the annual meeting. This includes a new destination marketing campaign, an expanded neighborhoods initiative to spread the impacts of tourism across the city, expanded storytelling and contact on small businesses and local voices and leveraging major events like 2026's America's 250th birthday.

"Despite the many challenges this year — particularly in the D.C. region — tourism remains a strong sector for Alexandria, driving much-needed investment and revenue into our local economy," said Kate Ellis, Visit Alexandria board chair. "As we move into Fiscal Year 2026, I’m excited to build on this momentum, guided by the organization’s strategic plan, strong media presence, and bold leadership — as we work together with the community to chart Alexandria’s next great chapter."

Visit Alexandria also presented its five-year strategic plan to guide the organization through 2030 in four areas — sales and marketing, destination management, destination alignment and organizational stability. The plan received input from Visit Alexandria's members, board members, city officials, customers and business leaders.

In the sales and marketing category, Visit Alexandria aimed to have visitor spending above $1 billion by fiscal year 2027, consumption taxes above $100 million by fiscal year 2029 and co-op marketing opportunities for Visit Alexandria members by fiscal year 2027. Initiatives include increasing marketing and public relations impact by expanding storytelling and strengthening its key messages, maintaining and growing the market share of business and leisure, develop a technology strategy to expand Alexandria's digital brand presence.

In destination management, Visit Alexandria aims to develop a hospitality training program and get 200 frontline employees through the training by the end of fiscal year 2028, have a tourism master plan developed by the end of fiscal year 2029 and have at least 50 unique visit experiences by the end of fiscal year 2030.

In the destination alignment category, the organization wants to introduce a new destination brand by the end of fiscal year 2028, grow membership revenue by 50 percent by the end of fiscal year 2030, rehome major event production by the end of fiscal year 2026 and redefine an event support by the end of fiscal year 2027.

For organizational stability, Visit Alexandria seeks to grow its budget to $7 million by fiscal year 2030 and evaluate the feasibility of a tourism improvement district by the end of fiscal year 2027.