Asheville Events, Conferences Expected to Drive $75 Million in 2026 Spending

Asheville's most ambitious events calendar in decades is expected to funnel roughly $75 million in direct spending to local businesses this year, according to the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority and Explore Asheville, as Western North Carolina continues its recovery from Hurricane Helene.

The projection builds on a strong fiscal year 2025, when meetings and group travel generated $67.4 million in direct spending, a 35 percent increase over the prior year. Explore Asheville secured 477 events and groups during that period, a 15 percent rise, while group room bookings grew 39 percent to 115,393 room nights across participating lodging partners. The TDA has already booked 233 events for 2026.

The single largest draw on the calendar is the Biltmore Championship, which will mark Asheville's first PGA Tour event in more than 80 years. Buncombe County Commission chair Amanda Edwards said the tournament is projected to generate up to $30 million in direct spending and $84 million in media value. "It is projected to generate up to $30 million in direct spending and $84 million in media value as the world hears that we are hosting the PGA," Edwards said.

Sports events will stack up through the spring. UNC Asheville will host the NAIA Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field National Championships in May, bringing 1,300 student-athletes to campus and generating an estimated $1.3 million in direct spending. The NAIA is set to return again in 2027. At the newly renovated McCormick Field, the Big South Baseball Championship will come back to Asheville for the first time since 2009, with that event expected to produce more than $750,000 in direct spending.

In late summer, global finance officials will convene in Asheville for two rounds of G20 Finance Track meetings. Finance and central bank deputies are scheduled to meet August 29-30, followed by finance ministers and central bank governors from August 31 through September 1. Vic Isley, president and CEO of Explore Asheville and the Buncombe County TDA, said the gatherings will draw roughly 500 attendees from around the world and generate an estimated $1.5 million to $2 million in direct spending. Isley described the selection of Asheville as deliberate federal support: "The United States government is supporting our area's economic rebound by selecting Asheville as a location for this finance track conference in August and September. And it was a specific directive to help our region's economy by bringing a meeting here."

The 2026 slate also includes a decade-long commitment from the Southern Conference, which will hold its men's and women's basketball championships in Asheville for the next ten years. The Outdoor Media Summit, the outdoor industry's largest media gathering, will come to the city, along with Homebrew Con and the Visit NC 365 conference.

Ed Silver, Explore Asheville's vice president of business development, said the concentration of events in 2026 reflects a "three-year build-up" and required "incredible coordination" to schedule, but said the payoff is expected to bring thousands of visitors to Western North Carolina.

The momentum stands in contrast to the disruption Hurricane Helene caused to the regional economy. Isley noted that visitors had spent nearly $3 billion in the community in 2022 and 2023 combined. "We certainly took it on the chin following Helene, and still, you as our community generate more than 2.5 billion dollars for our community for our neighbors for wages and for all of us," she said.

Recovery investments have been running parallel to the events push. Edwards said the Always Asheville fund raised and awarded more than $2.2 million to local small businesses in 2025, while the Tourism Product Development Fund committed $12.4 million across eight community projects. Mayor Esther Manheimer struck a measured but confident tone at the TDA's "The Year Ahead: Inspiring Community and Collaboration" event. "I've got to be honest: This time last year, I wasn't quite sure where we'd be today, but we are open for business right now," she said.

Isley framed the year ahead in terms of what draws groups to Asheville in the first place. "When a community moves with purpose, it creates momentum that lasts," she said. "Today's group travelers want experiences they can share and a destination that feels deeply rooted to its place. Asheville's artistic culture and mountain setting make immersion easy and meaningful.