Horse Center’s operations,
and its total impact on Virginia’s economy is
over $41 million annually.
According to Lethia Hammond,
the director of marketing, public affairs and
development for the Virginia Horse Center Foundation,
over 500 hotel rooms are occupied each week by Virginia
Horse Center visitors. “Because the
Virginia Horse Center has its own internal, commission
based reservation service, we are confident that our
numbers are accurate,” she said. She also
noted the Horse Center’s impact on Rockbridge
County’s lodging and tourism industries is
substantiated by the county’s tax records as
well.
Six new hotels have been
built within five miles of the Virginia Horse Center
since it commenced operations, with a seventh hotel
under construction. The Cooper Center study
showed that Horse Center show and event participants
are the single largest use of Lexington and Rockbridge
County lodging facilities. And because the
Virginia Horse Center’s event schedule is nearly
year round, this lodging patronage is consistent
throughout the year.
According to the Virginia Tourism
Corporation statistics, after the 2001 attacks on the
World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania,
