ASHEVILLE — Demand for lodging in Buncombe County steadily has kept pace with the area's supply in recent years as more than 500 new hotel rooms are scheduled to come online by the end of 2019, a consultant's analysis of the market shows.

The analysis was presented Friday in Asheville by Bennjin Lao, a business development executive for hotels with STR, Inc., hired by the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority.

Hotels continue to be a major industry in both the city and county, driven by a wave of new development projects as well as sustained marketing efforts by the BCTDA, which manages roughly $23 million in annual hotel occupancy tax funding. Visitors to the county spent some $453 million on lodging in 2017, as well as millions more in other sectors such as dining, recreation and transportation.

Of the 78 hotels already operating in the county, Lao said the average daily rate in December was about $158 a night, up about 3 percent from 2017. He also noted the area's available room nights supply has grown to about 2.8 million annually in 2018 from about 2.25 million in 2004.

"That represents a pretty large supply growth," he said, "and if you compare that to the demand, it's slightly over the demand and it's continuing to grow with the supply, and that's good news."

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Data shows there are 22 lodging projects in the county's active pipeline, either already under construction or in the late planning stages. They include the Glo Best Western Hotel in Haw Creek, Hotel Arras in downtown Asheville, an Element by Westin, a Hampton Inn in Black Mountain and a Fairfield Inn & Suites in Weaverville.

Approximately 505 new hotels rooms are expected to be available this calendar year, and none larger than the 128-room Arras, which includes 54 condominium units on the top nine floors of the 19-story building.

The area also has fared well in most hotel measurables against comparable communities such as Savannah, Georgia, Greenville, South Carolina and Chattanooga, Tennessee, Lao said.

Lao's presentation is posted below in its entirety.

Lodging has been a hot topic of discussion among Asheville City Council in the past few years, as city leaders grapple with how to strike a balance between hotel developments and the need for affordable housing. Council voted in early 2018 to severely restrict short-term vacation rental projects, which Councilwoman Julie Mayfield said was about "stemming the tide of lost housing."

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In recent months, the elected board has publicly debated the merits of approving more hotel projects — even ones offering substantial community benefits packages — while not approving any, and calling for more affordable housing projects and infrastructure investments.

But local tourism officials argue leisure visitors don't come to communities to visit hotels, but to take in community attractions such as historic sites, festivals and events. They also spend about $2 billion at local businesses and contribute roughly $199 million in total state and local tax revenues, an analysis by Tourism Economics found.

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Explore Asheville President and CEO Stephanie Brown on Friday walked attendees through some of the BCTDA's notable recent decisions such as hiring Atlanta-based 360i as its new advertising agency of record. Brown touted firm's "deep experience" in the hospitality sector as well its efforts working with national brands such as economy hotel brand Red Roof Inn and New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corp., among others.

Of the most seismic changes to the BCTDA's strategies in recent years was the 2015 occupancy tax increase from 4 to 6 percent, generating more revenue to promote the region as well as to go toward funding the Tourism Product Development Fund.

"We know we will not have another big jump in our marketing budget and we can't have another jump in our media relations because we're already achieving such a high level of productivity," Brown said. "We will sustain and maintain those things and as our team looks forward to what we can do to meet the demands of an increase in supply."

One other decision of note was the BCTDA's October vote to pause its annual TPDF grant cycle. Brown previously said the fund, which has paid out $44 million to 39 community tourism projects since 2001, has grown to a point where it's able to be proactive in addressing the city and county's "long-term sustainability needs."

A plan to determine how TPDF money could be invested in the coming years is expected to be rolled out during the next BCTDA meeting on Feb. 27.