Durham breaks records in visitor volume and spending, annual report finds

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- The City of Durham is continuing to attract visitors such as the Phams, who explored the Bull City on Wednesday after flying in from Phoenix, Arizona.

"Everything about it is just prettier," Anastasia Pham said about downtown. "Arizona is a desert, so we're not used to all this vegetation, and I just love the architecture."

Anastasia's dad, Ngoc Pham, said he's an engineer and one of the highlights of the region that attracted him to Durham is Research Triangle Park, which is one of the several factors helping drive Durham's economy, according to Discover Durham's annual report.

Other factors include recreation and entertainment, such as DPAC, which the report finds is one of the top visited spots.

"Durham continues to be a place that is inviting to people and that has some unique things to talk about," Discover Durham President and CEO Susan Amey said.

The annual report found that 13 million people visited Durham last year and spent more than $1 billion, which is a 10% jump from the year before.

"I feel like it's impressive and something I'm very happy about since I'm a small business owner myself," Durham resident Vabrice Smiley said.

For Michelle Vanderwalker of Queeny's, the area's growth has been positive as well.

"A lot of people come visit and we're close to all the hotels, so we get a lot of that and love it," Vanderwalker said. "One of the bigger problems is for people who have been here for a really long time they're not as inclined to come downtown because parking is a little bit more difficult or more expensive. I think if it was cheaper or free, especially during the week, that would be a big deal for people who have been here a long time."

While businesses are growing, Amey said more needs to be done to help take that growth to the next level.

"We don't have the performing arts spaces, the sports activity spaces, convention space, that a lot of other communities have, so we absolutely do need to invest in those things," Amey said. "We're also looking at other drivers of business, which would be things like programming, events and festivals. Those have come back to us to an extent, but we would like to see that grow even bigger."