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Visit Spokane says county attracted record 10.1 million visitors in 2024, generated $1.53 billion in spending
Summary
Visit Spokane presented its quarterly economic impact report to the Spokane County commissioners, reporting the destination reached 10.1 million visitors in 2024, generated about $1.53 billion in visitor spending, supported roughly 18,000 hospitality jobs and returned roughly $230 million in state and local taxes.
Visit Spokane told the Board of County Commissioners on June 17 that Spokane County welcomed a record 10.1 million visitors in 2024 and that visitor spending topped $1.53 billion.
"For the first time, we have broken more than 10,000,000 visitors to Spokane County. Woo hoo," Rose Noble said during the briefing while presenting the destination management organization's condensed economic-impact report.
Noble said the report—based on Tourism Economics data used by destinations worldwide—calculated $1.53 billion in visitor spending across lodging, food and beverage, retail and related categories. She said that spending translated into roughly $230 million in state and local taxes and an estimated per‑resident tax offset of about $1,000 for Spokane County residents.
Noble also reported that tourism supported just under 18,000 jobs in hospitality‑related positions and that Visit Spokane secured 84,000 contracted room nights in 2024 for future years. She described efforts to diversify product—sports facilities, agritourism in Greenbluff, neighborhood activations and air service recruitment for Spokane International Airport—as ways to grow overnight stays outside downtown and to expand shoulder‑season demand.
Commissioners asked about seasonality and data sources. Noble said the organization uses STR lodging data and geofenced mobile datasets to estimate day‑trip and visitor counts; she acknowledged limitations in Airbnb and short‑term rental measurement and said Visit Spokane is working to improve those inputs.
No formal board action was recorded during the presentation. Commissioners thanked Noble for the update and discussed longer‑term destination and sports‑facility opportunities that could expand stays and hotel recruitment in the county.
Visit Spokane provided board members with a short report and offered to return with more detailed trend visualizations on quarterly seasonality and STR reports.
