CHARLOTTE — The city continues to bounce back from the pandemic but Charlotte is getting no help from business travel. Leaders say this city is being carried by sports and events.
The first home match for Charlotte FC was a win. Not just for the team, but for the city. Charlotte leaders say the event brought more than 180,000 people to Uptown. Events like this are a big reason why Assistant City Manager Tracy Dodson says Bank of America Stadium has an economic impact of more than $1 billion each year.
“That should not go unnoticed,” she said.
At some point this year, Charlotte City Council is expected to discuss using tax dollars to upgrade the Uptown stadium. Sources have previously told me the public ask could be $600 million. But details on the city’s current thinking haven’t been released
“Impact goes beyond the owner,” Councilman Malcolm Graham said. “It is the impact this is having on the hotels, the workers, the restaurants.”
Charlotte hotel operator Vinay Patel says this shows the importance of investing in tourism.
He says sports and events are the reason behind record revenue for hotels last year.
“It is because of convention volume, it is because of our event dates, it is because of everything going on in our assets we have,” Patel said.
Patel says only one part of the city is not experiencing year-to-year growth for hotel revenue is Ballantyne. He says that’s due to a lack of business travel.
(WATCH BELOW: Olympic-standard track coming to Concord high school, hopes to boost tourism dollars)
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