WINCHESTER — Just when the COVID-19 pandemic started to ease enough for people to travel again, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused gas, lodging and food costs to soar and made people wonder if they can afford to take a vacation this year.
Surprisingly, this new global crisis — much like the pandemic that preceded it — could actually help boost tourism in the Winchester area.
That’s according to Justin Kerns, executive director of the Winchester-Frederick County Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB).
“People will never stop traveling,” Kerns said on Thursday. “As long as people have been able to travel, they’ve been traveling.”
Kerns said people may not want to go great distances this year because of the sudden spike in costs, but they’ll still want to get away and will most likely be seeking destinations within a few hours’ driving distance. For Mid-Atlantic residents, the Winchester area is a logical choice.
During the height of COVID-19 in 2020 and ’21, Kerns said the CVB focused its video and print advertisements on regions that were within driving distance of the Northern Shenandoah Valley — Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Roanoke and so on. The strategy paid off as local hotels, beds and breakfasts and short-term rentals reported steady business from customers who came to the Winchester area to enjoy an array of outdoor activities that could be enjoyed with relatively little risk of illness.
Now that economic factors are starting to outweigh health concerns for aspiring vacationers, “We’re still positioned very strongly,” Kerns said. “It’s not that expensive of a trip if you’re two hours away …. and we’re only a few hours away from millions and millions of people.”
Despite a recent rise in hotel rates due to war-related inflation, Kerns said local lodging establishments are still “a great value” compared to those in major tourist destinations. For example, the online travel service Kayak reports the average room price for a hotel room in Winchester on a Friday or Saturday night is $116, whereas the average weekend hotel rate is $309 in New York City, $301 at Yellowstone National Park and $225 in Las Vegas.
“I think we’re still positioned very, very well for this summer and fall,” Kerns said. “And we’re hoping this new audience we have found through several years of marketing in a pandemic will have us at the top of their minds when the holiday season hits.
“People will continue to travel. Even if we have a recession, they’ll continue to travel,” he said. “They’ll just travel closer to home and Winchester is positioned very well. … We just need to keep our foot on the gas to make sure people are thinking of us and know what we have to offer.”
