Visit Alexandria CEO Patricia Washington at the 2023 What's New Meeting at The Lyceum.
Tourism is continuing to recover following the COVID-19 pandemic and is now almost back at 2019 levels, according to Visit Alexandria, the city's tourism organization.
While inflation affected some people's travel plans and how much they spent on vacation travel in 2022, many Americans still have some excess savings from not traveling and going out during the pandemic, according to Visit Alexandria. But this year has brought a shift in spending back from goods (furniture and other items) to services (travel and eating out), Visit Alexandria explained at Thursday's 'What's New' presentation and meeting.
In Alexandria, hotel occupancy in 2022 significantly improved from 2020 and 2021 and is almost back at 2019 levels. In addition, business trips are starting to return and many business travelers are tacking on a few days of personal leave onto business trips for fun. Both trends are helping Alexandria's economy.
New Attractions Coming in 2023
2023 will bring a slew of new attractions to Alexandria:
- New art is coming to Waterfront Park in Old Town as part of the annual Site See public art installation series. The new art will be installed in March and is an abstract rendering of the hull of a ship.
- Alexandria's Black History Museum will reopen this year, as will the Southern section of the Black History Trail in Old Town Alexandria.
- The hew aka hotel will open in Old Town North.
- Several new restaurants are coming to Alexandria, including Tatte Bakery & Cafe, Lily's Coffee & Chocolate, Ted's Bulletin, Atlas Brew Works and more.
Currently, Alexandria is up for a spot in the Travel & Leisure World's Best Awards. City officials are asking everyone to vote at TLWorldsBest.com/Vote. In addition to the city possibly being honored again, several Alexandria hotels could receive accolades — the Lorien Hotel & Spa, Hyatt Centric Old Town, The Alexandrian and Morrison House.
