Matt Smith for Visit Alexandria
King Street, Alexandria, Virginia.
Alexandria was named the #3 “Best Small City in the U.S.,” according to the 2023 Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards. The announcement came on the same day as Visit Alexandria's annual meeting, in which Mayor Justin Wilson and Visit Alexandria staff shared that Alexandria's tourism has fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alexandria has been listed in the top 5 “Best Small Cities in the U.S.” the past six years. It was in the top three in 2019 and again in 2021.
Alexandria got the #3 spot behind Charleston, South Carolina (#1) and Santa Fe, New Mexico. (#2). Rounding out the top five: Greenville, South Carolina (#4), Savannah (#5) and Aspen, Colorado (#6). Nearby Annapolis, Maryland, was #9. On the best big cities list, Washington, D.C. ranked #9.
People are back to visiting Alexandria after the Covid-19 pandemic shut down a lot of travel nationwide. Sales taxes, hotel taxes and other consumption taxes are back where they were in 2019, according to Visit Alexandria.
"We are absolutely back," Wilson declared, and it's time to "put the pedal to the metal" on capitalizing on Alexandria's accolades and strengths.
According to Visit Alexandria, "In Fiscal Year 2023, City consumption tax revenues (sales, meals and lodging) reached $81 million, surpassing the previous record set in Fiscal Year 2022 ($76 million) and up 22% over pre-pandemic levels. Alexandria relies on these revenues to support core City services. ... According to data released by the Commonwealth of Virginia, the growth of Alexandria’s visitor spending in calendar year 2022 from travelers residing more than 50 miles away grew by 30.6%, the third highest rate in the state and 51% faster than the Commonwealth average."
This coming year, Visit Alexandria will continue its focus on growing worldwide awareness of Alexandria, supporting its good reputation and growing revenue for the city. This will be done with a continuation of the “Best Kept Shh!” advertising campaign, more locally-produced videos and a focus on sustainability. Alexandria officials have made significant strides in attracting small and medium-sized conferences and meetings to the city.
Here's the 2023 Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Award writeup on Alexandria:
"Washingtonians are all in on the secret, but it’s no surprise the rest of the world is catching up: Alexandria, Virginia, the charming, historic city just across the Potomac River from our nation's capital, draws travelers and would-be residents alike. Most folks start to imagine moving there immediately after setting foot in Old Town, once they’ve strolled the red-brick sidewalks, clocking street after street of perfectly preserved rowhouses from the 18th and 19th centuries. When you visit, scope out King Street, packed with boutiques, restaurants, and specialty shops; then land at the waterfront, where you can watch the boats bobbing on the water before touring the Torpedo Factory Art Center, a collective of galleries and artists’ studios. End the day at Gadsby’s Tavern, where some of our founding fathers used to drink—don’t mind the actors in colonial garb."
