Small Town Tourism Statistics: What The Numbers Say About Page County
Small town tourism is easy to describe in broad strokes, but the numbers show how much economic weight a rural destination can carry when lodging, events, dining, and visitor taxes all move together. In Page County, Virginia, the tourism system is not just a seasonal add-on; it is a measurable local engine with clear revenue, employment, and spending signals (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
Table of Contents
- At a glance
- The revenue picture
- Visitor spending and employment
- How small town tourism is built
- What the year-by-year numbers show
- Why these statistics matter for small towns
At a Glance
Big number: Page County’s collected transient occupancy tax reached $1,576,150 in FY2021 after falling to $869,855 in FY2020 and then rebounding sharply (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
Visitor spending: Page County visitors spent more than $90 million in 2019, or about $246,724 per day (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
Jobs supported: Tourism supported 983 jobs in 2019 and 845 jobs in 2020 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
Public value: Tourism generated about $4.6 million in local tax receipts and $2.6 million in state tax receipts in 2019 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
Small town tourism statistics matter because they show how a modest destination can produce outsized fiscal and employment effects when visitor spending is captured and reinvested.
The Revenue Picture
Page County’s tourism strategy is anchored by the transient occupancy tax pool, which helps fund destination marketing and other visitor-facing priorities. The marketing plan notes that the county’s tourism council has seven members representing five districts, and that contributors help fund the county’s TOT pool (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
The revenue trend is the first place the scale becomes obvious. Page County projected TOT funding at $700,000 in FY2017 and $1,000,000 in FY2020 and FY2021, a 42.9% rise over FY2017 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23). That is not a cosmetic change. It shows a county that is operating with a higher revenue base than it did just a few years earlier.
Key tax figures at a glance
| Fiscal year | Projected TOT funding | Collected TOT | Change vs FY2017 |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2017 | $700,000 | $1,150,605 | 64.4% |
| FY2018 | - | $857,276 | 7.2% |
| FY2019 | - | $1,013,668 | 26.7% |
| FY2020 | $1,000,000 | $869,855 | -13% |
| FY2021 | $1,000,000 | $1,576,150 | 57.6% |
(Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23)
The collected totals tell a more volatile story than the projections. Collected TOT went from $1,150,605 in FY2017 to $857,276 in FY2018, then to $1,013,668 in FY2019, down to $869,855 in FY2020, and up to $1,576,150 in FY2021 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
That pattern matters because small town tourism often depends on a limited number of occupancy-sensitive stays. When lodging demand rises, tax collections can jump quickly. When travel softens, the impact is immediate. The county’s FY2021 recovery is especially notable because it exceeded the FY2017 level by a wide margin, which suggests that the local visitor economy had meaningful momentum even after the 2020 dip (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
Visitor Spending And Employment
The cleanest evidence of tourism’s scale is visitor spending. Page County visitors spent more than $90 million in 2019, and that translated to $246,724 per day in visitor spending (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
That is a useful lens for small town tourism statistics because it turns an abstract annual total into a daily operating reality. A county does not experience tourism as one single event. It experiences it as a constant stream of lodging nights, meals, purchases, tickets, and local service transactions.
What the spending data shows
- Visitor spending rose about 3.3% from 2018 to 2019 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
- Tourism spending fell about 19% in 2020 from about $90 million to about $72.9 million (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
- 2020 tourism expenditures were $79,640,572 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
- 2019 tourism expenditures were $90,054,304 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
The 2019-to-2020 change is the clearest stress test in the dataset. Even with a sizable decline, the county still posted $79,640,572 in tourism expenditures in 2020, which is a substantial base for a small destination (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23). That means the visitor economy did not disappear; it contracted and then remained significant enough to keep supporting local business activity.
Tourism employment followed a similar pattern, but at a slightly different scale. The county’s tourism sector supported 983 jobs in 2019, then 845 jobs in 2020 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23). Those figures show that tourism in a small county is not just about weekend traffic. It is a job base that can touch lodging, food service, retail, attractions, and transport-related work.
Employment and income snapshot
| Year | Tourism expenditures | Tourism employment | Labor income | Local tax receipts | State tax receipts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | $79,640,572 | 961 | $21,972,252 | $4,267,736 | $2,290,330 |
| 2017 | $81,377,930 | 947 | $21,791,210 | $4,214,974 | $2,330,872 |
| 2018 | $87,191,459 | 956 | $22,836,976 | $4,395,362 | $2,497,909 |
| 2019 | $90,054,304 | 983 | $23,884,859 | $4,568,327 | $2,596,628 |
(Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23)
The labor income figures are especially useful because they show tourism’s connection to wages and proprietor income, not just gross sales. Page County’s labor income rose from $21,972,252 in 2016 to $23,884,859 in 2019 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23). That is a steady upward slope across the pre-2020 period.
The public revenue side moved with it. Local tax receipts rose from $4,267,736 in 2016 to $4,568,327 in 2019, while state tax receipts rose from $2,290,330 to $2,596,628 over the same period (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23). In other words, the county’s tourism economy was not only supporting private spending; it was also widening the public revenue base.
How Small Town Tourism Is Built
The statistics make more sense when you look at what Page County is trying to attract and support. The marketing plan points to a clear visitor mix: travelers from Virginia and beyond, including the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, with a focus on increasing stay duration through overnight getaways, weekend retreats, and weeklong stays (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
That emphasis is important. In small town tourism, length of stay often matters as much as raw traffic. A county can benefit far more from a visitor who books a cabin for three nights than from a traveler who only stops briefly. The plan’s emphasis on longer stays fits the revenue data because lodging occupancy drives the transient occupancy tax and supports downstream spending in restaurants, shops, and attractions (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
Lodging and local business mix
The county supports a broad lodging mix, including:
- Cabins and cottages
- RV stays
- Tent stays
- B&Bs
- Lodges
- Historic hotels
- Boutique hotels
(Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23)
That variety is a classic small town tourism advantage. Different lodging types widen the market, which gives the county more ways to capture spending from families, couples, outdoor travelers, and event guests.
The marketing plan also highlights the local commercial ecosystem that tourism supports:
- Small retail businesses
- Merchants
- Local dining
- Farmers markets
- Vineyards
- Distilleries
- Wine shops
(Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23)
Those categories matter because tourism spending is rarely confined to one sector. A visitor who books a room often eats out, buys gifts, visits a market, and attends an event. That is how a small town tourism economy compounds value from the same trip.
What The Year-By-Year Numbers Show
A useful way to read the dataset is to look at how spending, employment, and receipts changed together over time. The pattern suggests a maturing tourism base that rose through 2019, absorbed a 2020 shock, and still held enough scale to support recovery.
Year-over-year highlights
- 2016 to 2017: Tourism expenditures increased from $79,640,572 to $81,377,930, while employment edged from 961 to 947 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
- 2017 to 2018: Tourism expenditures climbed to $87,191,459, employment rose to 956, and labor income reached $22,836,976 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
- 2018 to 2019: Tourism expenditures reached $90,054,304, employment climbed to 983, and labor income hit $23,884,859 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
- 2019 to 2020: Visitor spending fell about 19%, tourism expenditures landed at $79,640,572, and employment dropped to 845 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
- 2020 to 2021: Collected TOT rose to $1,576,150, after $869,855 in FY2020, showing a strong rebound in tax receipts (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
That sequence gives small town tourism statistics a useful shape. Growth is not linear. It is a mix of upward movement, temporary disruption, and recovery. The presence of a rebound is just as important as the initial peak because it suggests visitor demand can return quickly when the destination remains attractive and accessible.
The strongest signals in the dataset
- Visitor spending cleared $90 million in 2019 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
- Tourism supported 983 jobs in 2019 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
- Local tax receipts exceeded $4.5 million in 2019 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
- State tax receipts reached nearly $2.6 million in 2019 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
- Collected TOT jumped to $1,576,150 in FY2021 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
These are not isolated numbers. Together they show a county where tourism has become a structural part of the local economy, not a peripheral attraction.
Why These Statistics Matter For Small Towns
Small town tourism statistics are often most useful when they answer four practical questions: how much visitors spend, how many jobs tourism supports, how the public sector benefits, and what kind of travel experience the destination is building.
Page County’s numbers answer all four.
For spending, the county posted more than $90 million in 2019 in visitor spending, with daily spending around $246,724 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23). That indicates a steady flow of economic activity rather than a one-off event.
For jobs, tourism supported 983 jobs in 2019 and 845 in 2020 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23). That makes tourism a real employment pillar in the county, not just a marketing category.
For government finance, tourism generated about $4.6 million in local tax receipts and $2.6 million in state tax receipts in 2019 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23). Those receipts help explain why visitor spending matters even to residents who never work directly in hospitality.
For destination design, the county is not chasing generic traffic. It is promoting longer stays, a wider lodging mix, and complementary businesses such as dining, markets, vineyards, distilleries, and events (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23). That is a smart small town tourism model because it increases the odds that one trip produces multiple transactions.
The data also shows why occupancy and event programming are so important in smaller markets. Page County’s annual and seasonal events include concerts, movie series, town celebrations, festivals, and athletic events (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23). Those are the kinds of experiences that can help convert interest into stays, and stays into tax revenue.
Fast Facts From The Dataset
- Page County’s tourism council has seven members representing five districts (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
- Page County targets visitors from Virginia and the Washington, D.C. metro area (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
- Page County wants to grow overnight getaways, weekend retreats, and weeklong stays (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
- Projected TOT funding rose from $700,000 in FY2017 to $1,000,000 in FY2020 and FY2021 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
- Collected TOT reached $1,576,150 in FY2021 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
- Visitor spending exceeded $90 million in 2019 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
- Tourism supported 983 jobs in 2019 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
- Tourism generated $4.6 million in local tax receipts in 2019 (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23).
Reading The Statistics Like A Tourism Analyst
If you are comparing small town tourism markets, Page County offers a simple but useful template. Look first at lodging-driven tax collections, then at annual visitor spending, then at jobs and local tax receipts. If those three move together, the destination is doing more than attracting attention. It is converting attention into a functioning visitor economy.
The Page County dataset shows exactly that relationship. The county’s tourism system supports lodging, local retail, food service, markets, vineyards, distilleries, and events, while also generating public revenue and jobs (Page County Marketing Plan 2022-23). That combination is what makes the small town tourism statistics here useful beyond one county: they show how a destination can translate visitor interest into measurable local benefit.