Tourism is the backbone of Virginia Beach. The city’s economy would drastically suffer without it and the threat of hurricanes, flooding and rising sea level aren’t exactly comforting for the industry.
A recent study by the Commonwealth Center for Recurrent Flooding Resiliency, Old Dominion University and the Virginia Coastal Policy Center at the William & Mary Law School looked at tourism resilience.
According to the study, tourism contributed $1.4 billion to the economy of Virginia Beach in 2015. This resulted in $256 million in salaries and more than 12,900 jobs.
With numerous threats facing the industry, the study found most businesses encountered similar issues with wind-driven rain, flooding, and employees unable to get to work after a storm. Smaller hotels were more susceptible to all the issues since they typically have less access to resources than larger hotels.
