Roy Pearson, chancellor of business emeritus for the College of William & Mary’s Mason School of Business, discussed economic growth in the area at the Williamsburg Economic Development Authority’s February Business Roundtable on Tuesday.
Pearson said economic growth on the national, state and regional level has been slowing down in recent years and will continue to into 2021. The area’s GDP Williamsburg and James City County went from 2.7 in 2018, to 1.9 in 2019 and is predicted to go to 1.4 in 2020 and 1.3 in 2021. While this may seem bad, he said slow and steady growth could help us avoid a recession.
Another economic trend in the area Pearson pointed out was a downward trend in the region’s arts, entertainment, accommodation, recreation and food service market — aka tourism. It peaked in 2010, went down and never had a big turn around.
“I’ll leave that for as a thought for you to be looking at,” he said to the crowd of local business owners.
Pearson added the real personal income in the Williamsburg area is higher than the Virginia and Hampton Roads averages. While they have basically stayed the same since 2004, Williamsburg JCC has grown by 132% since then. However, he said most of the personal income in our area was earned outside our locality, meaning people live here but work outside the Williamsburg-JCC region.
Grant “Open House” workshops
The Economic Development Department and the Tourism Development Grant Review Committee will hold an open house workshop where potential applicants are invited to stop by and ask questions about proposed projects or the application process. The workshop is scheduled 4-6 p.m. Feb. 20, at Copper Fox Distillery, 901 Capitol Landing Road.
“If you are considering applying for a TDF grant, but are unable to attend one of our workshops, we are happy to speak with your group or organization directly,” said Joanna Skrabala, tourism and development specialist, in a prepared statement. “Just call our office at 220-6129 and we can walk you through the process and answer any questions you may have about the fund.”
