DC tourism up 44% since 2020

Report claims DC tourism numbers are rising

FOX 5's Stephanie Ramirez reports on what local leaders are doing to help the recent rise in tourism happening in D.C.

WASHINGTON - Tourism to D.C. is one of the District's top five economic drivers, according to city leaders.

Destination DC, the city’s travel arm, is hopeful those figures will continue to rise this year even if tourism is not expected to hit 2019’s pre-pandemic high until next year.

International travel to D.C. is not expected to hit that banner high until 2025.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and travel leaders held their 2022 Travel Rally at Union Market on Tuesday to talk about the spike in tourism and where they’re putting more effort into getting visitors back to the nation’s capital.

"People are really ready to get out and travel more. We’re seeing it with the domestic numbers in terms of visitors who came to the city last year. The fact that there was so many free things to do when people were financially compromised, was a good thing for Washington D.C.," said Destination DC President and CEO Elliot Ferguson.

The numbers are out. Destination DC confirmed in 2021, the District saw 18.8 million domestic visitors — a 44% increase from the number of visitors who traveled to the city in 2020.

The increase, however, is still shy of 2019’s travel figure, which was a banner year for the city after a decade of building up D.C. tourism.

Destination DC said the city saw a total of 24.6 million domestic and international visitors with just 22.8 million coming from within the U.S. alone.

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The COVID-19 pandemic drove D.C.’s tourism industry into the ground.

The city saw a total of 13.3 million visitors in 2020, according to local travel officials.

A spokesperson wi that in 2019, travelers brought $896 million to the District. Had that travel not occurred, the spokesperson said over 307,000 D.C. households would’ve had to have paid $2,920 each in taxes to make up that same figure.

Inside Union Market, "Bun’d Up" General Manager Lou James told FOX 5 the first word that comes to mind when he hears more travelers are on the way to the District this year is: "Hope."

"It was boring. Then confusing. Then it made me angry," James said, describing what it was like to see foot traffic completely drop during the pandemic. "It’s not over, we’re still in the thick of it really. It just shows like a sign of I guess, light – light at the end of the tunnel because it’s been so long since we could feel normal."

Part of Destination DC’s plan includes launching their "Experience DC" campaign to areas within a four-hour radius of the District.

Officials said this means replenishing jobs and more opportunities for the city.

Tourism picks up in D.C.

Fox 5's David Kaplan reports on the recent uptick in tourists coming to D.C. as the city bounces back from the pandemic.

"We’re actually helping people in Maryland and Virginia too because sometimes visitors will choose to host an event here and do an excursion in Maryland and Virginia or stay in a hotel room here and visit restaurants around the region. And likewise, their tourism efforts help us.

"So, we market the entire region," Mayor Bowser said.

"All outdoor festivals for us are basically icing on the cake in terms of why people come to Washington," Ferguson said. "Monuments, memorials, and museums are part of the experience, but it’s also those things that happen after hours, which we tie into the Experience DC campaign. So, everything from the Cherry Blossom Festival to the Something in the Water Festival, to the festival ongoing this weekend at RFK Stadium – Passport D.C., these are things that really resonate and really draw people into Washington."

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The Destination DC president also said that since 2020, protest tourism has become more of a thing.

"It’s really tied to individuals wanting to come and learn about what’s happened in Washington D.C.," Ferguson added, referencing tourists who specifically come to see and learn about Black Lives Matter Plaza.

Conventions bring in the most tourism dollars. Destination DC said there are 19 scheduled conferences this year, compared to just four – in-person and virtual – last year.

Even though international travel is not expected to fully return for another three years, attendees at the event on Tuesday said a change that could help now would be dropping the pre-flight COVID-19 test requirements.