Building a Sustainable Tourism Economy

In my previous letters, I’ve discussed Warren County’s unique advantage as the gateway to Shenandoah National Park and the substantial economic potential this represents. Today, I want to explore how we can transform our existing tourism assets into a more robust economic engine that benefits the entire Front Royal/Warren County (FRWC).

Tourism economies vary dramatically in their impact. When tourism development happens organically without strategic planning, its economic benefits often remain modest while the quality of life for residents goes down (i.e., traffic). However, when communities approach tourism with the same intentionality they would apply to developing any other industry, the results can be transformative for local prosperity in the economy as well as the quality of life for residents. Consider that Shenandoah National Park alone generated $104 million in visitor spending in local communities in 2022, supporting 1,240 jobs and contributing $145 million in total economic benefit to the local economies in proximity to the park. The difference lies not in luck or location alone but in vision, strategy, and deliberate execution.

Understanding Economic Impact: Beyond the Festival Mentality

Some individuals seem to view tourism through an outdated lens, dismissing it as little more than organizing another canoe festival or weekend event and locals having to put up with the leaf peeper traffic. This perspective misunderstands strategic tourism economics, which I hope to try to clarify.

Tourism is not about hosting occasional festivals, though events can certainly be one component of a larger strategy. Rather, tourism development involves creating a comprehensive economic ecosystem that transforms visitors into economic drivers for the entire community. This marketing pathway from visitor numbers to economic impact involves three critical factors that Warren County can actively influence through strategic development.

The first factor is the length of stay. Currently, many park visitors pass through Front Royal without stopping or staying just one night. Each additional night a visitor stays represents a potential doubling of their economic impact. Communities that understand tourism economics work deliberately to extend visitor stays through evening activities, multi-day itineraries, and weekend packages that transform day-trippers into overnight guests. Strategic developments like a convention center, multi-sport all-season sports plex, and ice rink could have the potential to achieve significant step increases in visitor volume by diversifying our attraction portfolio beyond the national park and state park, creating compelling reasons for longer stays and repeat visits throughout the year. This isn’t about hoping visitors will discover reasons to stay longer; it’s about intentionally creating compelling reasons and marketing them effectively.

The second factor is spending per visitor. The average national park visitor spends $106 per day, according to National Park Service data, and national parks generate a remarkable return on investment—$10 in economic benefit for every $1 invested in the National Park Service. However, communities with well-developed tourism amenities can increase visitor spending substantially by offering premium experiences, distinctive retail opportunities, and memorable dining options that visitors cannot find elsewhere. This requires understanding what today’s travelers value—authentic local experiences, opportunities to connect with nature and culture, and distinctive products that tell the story of place.

The third factor is capture rate—the percentage of potential visitor spending that actually occurs within Warren County. Even with 1.4 million park visitors annually, we capture only a fraction of potential tourism spending. Many visitors purchase supplies before arriving, eat at chain restaurants, or seek entertainment outside our community. By developing targeted businesses that meet visitor needs—outfitters that understand our terrain, restaurants that showcase local agriculture, and guides who can share our history and natural wonders—we can dramatically increase our share of tourism dollars.

The Tourism Economic Ecosystem

A thriving tourism economy creates an interconnected web of businesses and services that serve visitors while creating quality jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities throughout the community. This ecosystem extends far beyond accommodation and restaurants, though these remain important foundations.

Consider the accommodation sector, which includes not just traditional hotels but vacation rentals, bed and breakfasts, glamping operations, and distinctive lodging experiences that themselves become attractions. Each type serves different market segments and creates different economic opportunities. A well-designed cabin rental can generate more revenue per night than a hotel room while requiring less staffing. Working farms and homesteads that offer authentic agricultural experiences to guests can support farming operations while introducing visitors to local food systems.

The dining and food services component encompasses restaurants featuring local ingredients, craft breweries that tell the story of place, food tours that connect visitors with local producers, cooking classes that teach regional traditions, and specialty food producers whose products become sought-after souvenirs. When a visitor takes home locally made jam or craft spirits, they’re extending the economic impact of their visit and potentially creating future customers through word-of-mouth marketing.

Recreation services represent perhaps the greatest untapped opportunity in Warren County. Beyond equipment rentals, this sector includes guide services that help visitors safely explore our natural resources, instruction in outdoor skills, and adventure experiences that showcase our landscape’s unique features. Professional guiding operations can not only generate direct revenue but position the community as a serious outdoor recreation destination with trail biking, rock-climbing, geocaching, and spelunking activities, just to name a few, that attract repeat visits from enthusiasts that are a level up from a one-time or annual river tubing outing which is more likely to be a day trip.

Cultural experiences—music venues, galleries, workshops, and heritage sites—serve dual purposes in tourism economies. They provide activities during weather-sensitive periods when outdoor recreation might be limited and help distinguish one destination from another in an increasingly competitive tourism market. They also allow us to tap into visitor demographics that would not be interested in outdoor recreation. Communities that develop strong cultural identities around their history, crafts, or artistic traditions create emotional connections with visitors that encourage return visits and positive word-of-mouth marketing.

The retail component extends beyond typical gift shops to include galleries featuring local artists, markets showcasing regional products, and specialty stores offering items that reflect the destination’s character. When visitors can find unique products that tell the story of their experience, retail becomes an extension of the visit rather than an afterthought.

Finally, events and festivals serve important functions in tourism economies, but they should be understood as visitor draws that utilize tourism marketing rather than the foundation of tourism strategy. Well-conceived events can fill shoulder seasons, generate media attention, and provide reasons for repeat visitation. However, successful communities use events to showcase their year-round attractions rather than treating events as their primary tourism product.

Each component of this ecosystem represents opportunities for local entrepreneurship, job creation, and wealth building. Unlike single-industry development that concentrates economic benefit in one location, a well-developed tourism economy distributes opportunity throughout the community, creating pathways to prosperity for people with diverse skills and interests.

Another factor that is rarely spoken about is the effect growing tourism has on the local residents. Studies show that areas that embrace tourism actually increase their civic pride as the quality of life for the residents increases. Residents take part in the events, activities, dining, retail, and various other options that are being put forth as draws and assets for tourism.

Learning from Success Stories

FRWC need not speculate about tourism’s economic potential. We can examine communities that have successfully leveraged natural assets into economic prosperity through strategic tourism development.

Damascus, Virginia, offers a compelling example of transformation through tourism. Once a struggling former logging town with a population of just 800, Damascus reimagined itself as “Trail Town USA” by embracing its location at the intersection of seven major trails. The transformation didn’t happen through a single festival or event but through the deliberate development of trail-oriented businesses, visitor services, and amenities that serve the outdoor recreation community. Today, Damascus hosts thousands of visitors annually and supports dozens of small businesses that employ local residents year-round.

Lewisburg, West Virginia, demonstrates how small towns can be revitalized through cultural tourism. This community developed a vibrant arts scene and distinctive downtown that draws visitors traveling to nearby outdoor recreation areas. By creating a sense of place that reflects local character while appealing to visitors, Lewisburg transformed itself from a community that people passed through to one they actively seek out as a destination.

The lesson from these and similar communities is that successful tourism development requires both vision and implementation. It’s not enough to have natural assets or hope that visitors will discover your community. Success comes from understanding what today’s travelers seek, developing businesses and amenities that meet those needs, and marketing the complete experience effectively.

FRWC possesses natural advantages that exceed those of many successful tourism communities. Our strategic location at the northern entrance to Shenandoah National Park, proximity to the Appalachian Trail, access to the Shenandoah River, and historic downtown provide the raw materials for tourism success. Warren County is also part of a much larger tourism ecosystem—statewide, visitors to all Virginia National Park Service lands spent $1.2 billion in local gateway regions in 2019, generating $1.7 billion in total economic output for Virginia’s economy. The task at hand is to work together (town and county) on a cohesive vision and systematic implementation strategy to capture a larger share of this substantial economic activity.

From Concept to Reality: A Strategic Approach

Transitioning Warren County’s tourism economy from its current state into its full potential will require coordinated action across multiple areas, each building on the others to create momentum and results.

Gateway development should be the foundation of our tourism strategy. As the northern entrance to Shenandoah National Park, FRWC should provide a distinctive arrival experience that welcomes visitors, orients them to local attractions, and encourages exploration beyond the park itself. This involves both physical improvements—attractive signage, visitor information facilities, and walkable downtown areas—and business development that gives visitors compelling reasons to stop and spend time in our community.

Business development and support require identifying specific tourism business opportunities and providing the resources entrepreneurs need to launch successful enterprises. This might include technical assistance with business planning, help to navigate regulatory requirements, connections to financing sources, incentives for destination-promoting businesses, and coordination with other tourism businesses to create complementary offerings. The goal is not just to help individual businesses succeed but to develop clusters of related businesses that strengthen each other and create a more compelling visitor experience.

Workforce development ensures that our tourism economy can deliver the quality of service that today’s travelers expect. This could involve partnering with the high schools and Laurel Ridge to develop tourism management and hospitality training programs, creating apprenticeship opportunities that provide pathways into tourism careers, and helping existing workers develop new skills as the economy evolves. A well-trained workforce becomes a competitive advantage that draws people back for repeat visits.

Marketing and promotion require developing a cohesive, unified brand identity for Front Royal and Warren County that complements but distinguishes us from Shenandoah National Park, then promoting that brand to targeted visitor segments through sophisticated digital marketing strategies. Effective tourism marketing today involves understanding different visitor types, their online behavior, and their decision-making processes. Modern digital marketing tools—from search engine optimization and social media campaigns to influencer partnerships and targeted advertising—allow communities to reach specific audiences cost-effectively. This approach is far more complex and powerful than traditional advertising methods, requiring expertise in content creation, data analytics, and digital platform management.

Infrastructure investment supports the visitor experience while benefiting our resident’s quality of life. This includes both transportation infrastructure that makes Warren County accessible and internal infrastructure—trails, streetscapes, and wayfinding systems—that enhance the visitor experience. Considering innovative transportation solutions, such as shuttle services to popular attractions, can address parking overcrowding in Shenandoah National Park while creating convenient visitor access that encourages longer stays in our community. Strategic infrastructure investment can guide development to appropriate locations while ensuring that public investments generate economic returns.

None of these initiatives requires starting from scratch. FRWC already possesses tourism assets, businesses, and infrastructure. What we need is coordination among these elements, strategic investment in gaps and weaknesses, and a shared vision that guides individual decisions toward collective success.

A Vision Worth Pursuing

The most successful communities in today’s economy leverage their authentic character and natural advantages rather than pursue generic economic development. They recognize that quality of place is itself an economic asset in an era when both visitors and residents seek authentic experiences and distinctive communities.

FRWC stands at a pivotal moment. We can pursue a development path that enhances our distinctive character and natural advantages, or we can pursue development that could happen anywhere. The former builds on our community’s unique identity and creates sustainable competitive advantages for generations to come; the latter risks transforming us into just another exit along the highway.

Building a robust tourism economy aligned with our gateway status to Shenandoah National Park isn’t about settling for small-scale development or limiting our ambitions. It’s about recognizing and developing the remarkable economic asset we already possess while creating opportunities for local entrepreneurship, job creation, and community prosperity. As I mentioned in the first letter in this series, pursuing a tourism economy as a priority does not exclude industrial economic development as an important effort to undertake; it simply acknowledges that the revenue impact of the former can be achieved faster, and we have an urgent need.

In my next letter, I’ll examine how different development models might impact Front Royal and Warren County’s economic future and quality of life. Until then, I encourage all citizens to look beyond superficial characterizations of tourism as festivals and events to understand its potential as a targeted economic development strategy. Our county deserves leadership that recognizes tourism as an intentional economic engine.

Economic data cited throughout this letter is sourced from National Park Service Economic Impact Reports, 2019-2023, available at www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/vse.htm

Rich Jamieson
Warren County Board of Supervisors
North River District