Investments in local entertainment boosts Valdosta tourism to $422 million

• Valdosta sees $422.3 million in visitor spending, up 8.9% over 2022.
• 5,447 jobs directly sustained by visitor spending in Lowndes County.
• Watch the video to hear how the area is growing from from local leaders.

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT

Our Downtown Entertainment District sees a lot of the action for neighbors and visitors alike.
Sementha Mathews runs one of the bigger spots in that district: the Turner Center, and whether she’s at clocked in or out, she’s usually right in the thick of it.

“The most important part of it is seeing that everybody has a part in the economic development of our community.”

She says that Valdosta’s unique art culture as well as the mom and pop gems downtown keeps visitors coming back.

“Valdosta’s so rich in culture and so rich in musical talent and the and the written word and just art in general… it’s really all about the different types of walks of like we represent here.”

And the numbers agree with her.

Our tourism dollars has risen to $422.3 million in the past year, and arts and recreation is in top 5 category for where that money goes at $60.4 million.

Dave DiSalvo, CEO and president of Visit Valdosta, tells me visitors like having options and offerings like the downtown districts, local business, and our own theme park in Wild Adventures keeps them coming back.

“The travel patterns of people are changing. You know, again, rather than just having Valdosta be a stopover, people are now spending an additional night doing those types of things because there are those things to do in our community.”

All this success makes Visit Valdosta tourism the #5 economic driver for our county. In Valdosta, I’m Malia Thomas, reporting for ABC27.