Windfall from Inauguration May Reach $1.34 Billion in Northern Virginia

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA -- If attendance estimates are accurate, the Washington, D.C., region stands to see between $1 billion and $1.34 billion in economic activity during the presidential inaugural weekend, according to figures compiled by the Stephen S. Fuller Institute for Research on the Washington Region’s Future Economy.

“The difference is attendance at both the Friday official events—estimated at 200,000 to 400,000—and the attendance for the demonstrations over the weekend, ranging from 500,000 to 1 million,” said Fuller.

An estimated 1,200 busloads of protesters are expected for the women's march, three times as many as expected for the inauguration itself, according to a recent report by NPR.

The every-four-years inauguration is equivalent to the region hosting a Super Bowl or Soccer World Cup final, said Terry Closer, director of Mason’s Center for Regional Analysis at the Schar School of Policy and Government, in a news release from George Mason University about the economic impact of the inauguration and protest events planned in the area this week.

“Like any other big event, you are drawing people to town at a time when you normally would not,” Clower said. As such, the hospitality industry—hotels, restaurants and private Airbnb rentals, among them—will see the biggest boost. “And it can be substantial spending,” he said, adding, “it’s all temporary, of course. By Sunday afternoon most of the visitors will have gone home.”

Also left out of the economic impact analysis are the extra expenditures taking place for public safety, overtime for local workers and other costs associated with the inauguration. In all, tens of millions of dollars will be added to the region’s local government coffers in taxes collected from businesses.

“All that will be re-spent within the local economy in the coming month or later in the year,” Fuller added. “This is a big number and much of it is reimbursed to the D.C. government and other agencies, or paid directly by the federal government. This is new money into the economy.”

Fuller cautioned that the economic impact may itself be impacted by what he called a “displacement effect.” Reports of area residents leaving the region to avoid congestion or staying home to take advantage of days off from work will cut into usual spending patterns.

“Retail spending may be deferred,” said Fuller. “The food and beverage spending is probably lost as are the visitors who would otherwise have come to the Washington area on this weekend” but stayed away to avoid the crowds.

But it’s likely the income from those deferred visitors will be recouped with re-bookings, he added.

PHOTO: Morrison House, a hotel in Alexandria, is sold out of rooms for Friday, Jan. 20, the date of the presidential inauguration; Morrison House photo