The safety and wellbeing of residents, employees, planners and meeting attendees living in or visiting Buncombe County are top priorities for everyone. We join you in a desire to restart the meetings industry, but recognize that extra precautions will be necessary for some time.

North Carolina Mask Order

Per Governor's orders, face coverings are no longer required in public (except for transportation and in other settings*); however, individual businesses may require patrons to continue to wear masks indoors. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding! 

For the latest COVID-19 updates for Asheville, please reference the North Carolina Department of Health and, more locally, the Buncombe County Department of Health.

*Face coverings are required indoors for public transportation, hospitals and other healthcare settings, long-term care settings, childcare settings, schools, camps, correctional facilities and homeless shelters.

Latest Guidelines

• Indoor dining is fully open; however, as restaurants and businesses begin to staff up, space may be limited. Please check ahead and make a reservation, if possible. In addition, many restaurants have continued to require face coverings indoors, so please come prepared and adhere to individual business' protocols. Thank you for your patience!

• Residents and guests should continue to adhere to government orders and health guidelines.

• Effective May 14, all capacity restrictions and social distancing requirements are lifted for restaurants, bars and meeting spaces in hotels. Some venues may continue to implement stronger restrictions on a case-by-case basis and unvaccinated people should continue to maintain social distance from others and wear face coverings. 

Asheville Cares Meet Safe Pledge

Our pledge is a shared commitment with you and all meeting participants to keep each other healthy.

Our meeting properties have enhanced meeting and event space cleaning and safety protocols in place, drawing from current guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, N.C. Health and Human Services and local health departments along with recommendations from the U.S. Travel Association, APEX COVID-19 Business Recovery Task Force Guidelines, and hotel corporate offices. These guidelines will change depending on new guidance received from governmental departments.