There’s a new tourism region in the area.
In December, the Madison County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution in support of a new “Virginia Piedmont” tourism region. Tracey Gardner, Madison County Director of Economic Development and Tourism, said the new region was needed since the area was in the Central Virginia region, which largely focused on the counties surrounding Richmond. The region was the largest designated by the Virginia Tourism Corporation and included Madison, Orange, Greene, Albemarle, Louisa, Fluvanna, Nelson, Amherst, Campbell, Appomattox, Prince Edward, Nottoway, Buckingham, Cumberland, Goochland, Hanover, Powhatan, Amelia, Dinwiddie, Chesterfield, Henrico, Prince George and Sussex.
In a memo to the Orange County Board of Supervisors, economic development and tourism director Julie Perry said the regional tourism directors felt the Central Virginia region was too broad to support a cohesive tourism identity or unified marketing strategy. The supervisors adopted a resolution supporting the new tourism region in February.
“This new region resonates more with people locally,” Gardner said.
The new Virginia Piedmont region includes the counties of Albemarle, Culpeper, Fauquier, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Nelson, Orange and Rappahannock and the city of Charlottesville. The 11 localities are the same as those in Go Virginia Region 9 which creates collaboration between localities in the shared goals of economic development, workforce and entrepreneurship. Several of the counties also work together in the Rappahannock-Rapidan Regional Commission’s Purely Piedmont tourism initiative.
The new region expands the state’s tourism regions from 10 to 11. It will become official Jan. 1, 2027.
