More than 13 million visitors spent just over $1 billion in Durham last fiscal year, a 3% increase from the year before. In order to keep growing, though, the city needs to increase funding for local festivals and explore two new potential facilities — a convention center and a multipurpose sports facility — says a new report about Durham tourism.
Since the pandemic, foot traffic downtown has been inconsistent and the city has not supported as many jobs in the tourism industry, says the tourism impact report from Discover Durham.
Tourist spending supported 7,738 jobs in the last fiscal year — jobs in the transportation, lodging, and food industries, the report says. That’s still well below pre-pandemic highs of over 9,000, said Susan Amey, CEO and President of Discover Durham.
“The world just isn’t quite the same place as it was before the pandemic,” said Amey. “Downtowns just still haven’t recovered and we see the effects of that.”
Durham Next, a new community nonprofit that opened this past year, is partnering with Discover Durham to support long-term tourism development. Its priorities include construction projects including the convention center and sports facility. Other key priorities include turning Durham into a festival destination and launching a new matching grants program for tourism-related businesses.
The festival scene amassed $8.8 million in direct economic impact for Durham in the past year, the report states. Durham Next’s executive director Tara Kenchen says she is excited to invest in the city’s festivals.
“We really believe that the festivals that happen in Durham are an important part of Durham culture and who Durham is,” Kenchen said. “We want to work with our festival owners, producers, and the city and the county to create an environment where festivals can grow.”
A new multipurpose sports facility?
For both the convention center and sports facility, Durham Next is seeking suitable, large plots of land in Durham and considering how to secure funding. The Durham Sports Commission and Durham Next have partnered to spearhead the sports facility project, and are seeking sites large enough to fit outdoor fields and indoor courts for sports such as volleyball, basketball, and baseball.
Durham’s lack of a multipurpose sports facility negatively impacts the active lives of residents and results in Durham often being “passed up” as a tourist destination, Amey said.
“People who live in Durham need opportunities to compete. We need our kids to be in competitive sports and we need everyone to have opportunities to be active,” Amey said. “Durham needs sports facilities. And the question is how to get there.”
Kenchen agrees, and wants to see a facility that serves youth teams up through intercollegiate teams.
“We don’t want people in Durham to have to always travel to get to a tournament,” Kenchen said. “We want to be a place that’s tournament-ready. And that brings visitors, that brings parents and kids to our city, to our county. And when they’re here, they eat and they also stay in the hotels.”
Convention center concepts
Amey and Kenchen emphasize that a new convention center is still in “conceptual stages.” Both want a new, larger convention and event center to serve a variety of purposes beyond business conferences, including music events like festivals. Durham Next is analyzing potential land plots large enough to suit the recommended specs for a new building large enough to fit an event center and an adjoining hotel.
“[The center] can be something that is not just for people who come to conventions, but a facility that the community would enjoy using as well,” Amey said. “We’ve got some lofty goals for it, and we’ve got to figure out how all the pieces would work and get put together before we can say, ‘yes, this definitely makes sense.’”
Some Durhamites have voiced concerns about the price of building a new convention center, an estimated $540 million. Kenchen argues that a convention center could be economically beneficial.
“[The center] is one way to think about what an economic driver could be that would bring people to Durham and also benefit small businesses, restaurants, and transportation,” Kenchen said. “I think that’s at the very least why we should consider a convention center, among other things that we are looking at as our projects. [But] that’s not our first project. It’s not even our priority project and it is in conceptual phases.”
Kenchen emphasized that supporting local festivals is a top priority.
To this end, Durham Next just conducted a research study on exemplary festival communities like Austin and Charleston and the economic and logistical support those cities provide for festivals. A key takeaway, according to Amey, is the value of helping existing local festivals grow rather than transplanting new ones into the community.
“We heard how important it is for a festival to reflect the community that comes out of,” Amey said. “So there’s a lot of support for the idea that the starting place should be taking some of [our] festivals and helping them scale.”
Pictured above: Fans line up during the 2024 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. Photo by Kulsoom Rizavi — The 9th Street Journal
