Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Tourism Economic Impact topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Visit Spokane reports $1.5 billion visitor spending in 2023, 35,000 visitor-center visits and strong convention bookings
Summary
Visit Spokane presented a community impact report summarizing 2024 marketing, visitor-center traffic, earned media and convention-sales metrics; staff reported $1.5 billion in visitor spending for 2023 and several marketing and sales milestones.
Rose Noble, Visit Spokane representative, presented the bureau’s community impact report to the Board on March 4, summarizing 2024 activity and metrics.
Noble said Visit Spokane estimates the destination produced about $1.5 billion in visitor spending in 2023 and that the bureau will publish a formal tourism economic-impact report in May 2025 using Tourism Economics data. She said the Visitor Information Center at Riverfront Park served about 35,000 people in 2024 and that staff are renovating the interior for improved ADA accessibility and activating the adjacent patio with community events.
On marketing, Noble said Visit Spokane’s website had about 2,000,000 unique visitors in 2024 (roughly a 500,000 increase over the prior year) and that social‑media followers exceeded 100,000. The bureau reported approximately $7.5 million in earned media value in 2024 and said it had success placing features in national leisure outlets. Noble said Visit Spokane consolidated meeting and leisure campaigns into a single "All Around You" creative platform to optimize production of photo and video assets.
On conventions, Noble said Visit Spokane signed contracts totaling 84,533 room nights (exceeding a goal of 83,000) and that 58,000 room nights were realized in 2024. The bureau said it signed 16 citywide-group contracts for 2024, exceeding a 15‑group goal, and is pursuing multi‑year bids including events tentatively slated for 2030 and later.
Noble outlined partnerships and revenue streams, including paid partnerships and advertising (typically about $300,000 annually), free community partner listings and nonprofit mission-alignment work. She said Visit Spokane will publish a standalone tourism economic-impact report in May and encouraged commissioners to read the community impact report for additional detail.
Commissioners offered brief praise and asked routine questions about promotions and restaurant week; no formal county actions resulted from the briefing.
