The local economic impact of Virginia’s artisan industry was $572.2 million in 2014, according to a benchmark study.
Nearly 700,000 travelers visited Virginia's artisan attractions and businesses during the year, spending more than $250 million and supporting almost 12,000 full-time jobs throughout the commonwealth, the report says. The average visitor spent $260 per person, per trip.
Virginia artisans and associated businesses buy 47 percent of their supplies in commonwealth.
"This benchmark study validates what we have known for some time; that artisan entrepreneurship exists in abundance across the commonwealth and as a hard-working, talent-based industry made up of creative and agricultural businesses, is of growing significance on Virginia's economic landscape," Sherri Smith, executive director of the Artisans Center of Virginia, said in a statement.
