VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Stores, hotels and other places where tourists spend their money are doing well in Virginia Beach. With the Shamrock Marathon starting this weekend, local businesses are gearing up for the 2024 season in earnest.
Morgan Corrado, owner of Parked Up Coffee Cafe, can be seen baking with her staff on weekends for the holiday season and for marathon participants. They are expecting a surge in customers.
Corrado said that although they have overcome COVID-19, tourists and customers are starting to return.
“It's been really consistent,” Collard said. “So I think it will be significantly busier than last year or any number of years in the past pre-COVID because of the increase in tourists.”
The numbers show Virginia Beach's overall revenue is already above pre-pandemic numbers. The city collected $3.7 billion in 2022. Recently, he attracted attention during his speech at the State House.. This is estimated to be an increase of $300 million from the previous year. This resulted in a significant increase in pre-pandemic revenue, which was approximately $430 million higher than in 2019.
While business has been booming in recent years, Coastal Edge President D. Nachnani told 10 On Your Side there's only one thing standing in the way.
“The only thing that will slow us down is the weather,” Nahanani explained. “Hurricanes, earthquakes, the lagging part of tourism. When the weather is nice, we are like farmers. Our crops grow well and our business does well.”
When asked what he thought the numbers would be for 2023, Nahanani said he believed the bad weather days endured that year had an impact on revenue. Even with the good weather, he believes the various events held around the city will make up for the loss.
