Visit Tri Cities reports strong 2024 results and asks city to approve $549,500 from tourism reserve

Visit Tri Cities representative Kevin Lewis presented the organization’s 2024 annual report to the Richland City Council and asked the council to approve a $549,500 draw from the Tourism Promotion Area (TPA) reserve to fund research, marketing and event-support projects.

Lewis said Visit Tri Cities is a 501(c)(6) destination-marketing organization funded primarily by a per-room tourism performance assessment and lodging taxes. He told council the group’s 2024 budget totaled roughly $3.5 million, of which “about 67%” came from the tourism performance areas, “22%” from lodging taxes and “about 10%” from sponsors. He said Visit Tri Cities spent roughly 70% of the budget on marketing, convention and sports sales work and maintained a reserve the organization now seeks to use for specific projects.

The request to use TPA reserves covers a package of items Lewis summarized: multi-year research and reporting services, a short-term rental research platform, AI tools and subscriptions, an airport kiosk redesign, additional familiarization (FAM) tours for journalists, funds for signature sporting events and quick-response event incentives, bidding support to host sports-event organizers’ conferences, a bid effort for the Washington State tourism conference, and project support staff to handle increased workload. Lewis said the TPA commissioners — hotel general managers who govern the assessment funds — had unanimously approved the request.

Lewis highlighted performance metrics from 2024: about $630 million in visitor spending region‑wide, roughly 4.4 million trips, about $77 million in tax receipts, and an estimated $7.4 million increase in hotel revenues for the year. He singled out two large events, the Ironman competition and the Iron World Horseshoe Pitching Championships, and said those signature events produced outsized results including a reported $10 million in economic impact tied to the horseshoe events and strong weekend hotel-rate increases tied to Ironman.

Council members asked about near‑term tourism trends and short‑term rentals. Council member Jones noted recent reporting that travel into the U.S. has softened and asked how Visit Tri Cities expects 2025 to perform. Lewis said Canadian visitation and some government travel have dropped in recent months and that Visit Tri Cities budgeted conservatively; he said the organization pursues multiple markets — signature events, youth sports, routine group business and leisure marketing — to diversify risk.

Council member Meyer asked whether short‑term rentals were being accounted for in local lodging tax collections and suggested the city might need its own review. Kevin Lewis said Visit Tri Cities plans to purchase a short‑term rental research platform and would share data with city leaders. City staff later said they are partnering with Visit Tri Cities on short‑term rental data and will vet compliance and revenue remittance further.

The council approved, as part of the consent calendar, a resolution described in the meeting packet as authorizing $549,500 from the TPA reserve account for supplemental tourism-related projects in 2025. That item was included in the consent calendar vote that passed unanimously.

Lewis also described marketing outcomes from 2024 — increased events booked, large gains in media coverage tied to signature events, and a reported digital advertising return metric he described as “about 342 to 1.” He credited community partners, public safety and parks staff for event logistics and said Visit Tri Cities will return to council with its 2025 work plan for formal approval.

The presentation prompted several council commendations and no formal amendment to the request during the meeting; the TPA-reserve resolution appeared on the consent calendar and was approved along with other routine items.