DC breaks tourism records in 2024
Good morning. My name is Gregory McCarthy with the Washington Nationals and it's my great pleasure to welcome you to Nationals Park which is located here we go. It's a travel rally. We are located in the Capitol Riverfront Sports and Entertainment District which is in the sports capital of America, Washington DC. Now we've had some sports capital news recently. We'll go in reverse order of magnitude. The Nets won our series in
Cincinnati over the weekend. That's worth something, right? All right. The Capitals are on their way to another Stanley Cup. The NFL draft is coming in 2027.
[Applause] And we also had a plan announced last week to revitalize 177 acres at RFK into an exciting mixeduse plaza with housing, retail, public recreation, and entertainment with a professional sports facility as an anchor. Now, I wonder, did the mayor have any inspiration for how a neighborhood could be jumpstarted, creating thousands of jobs and lots of tax revenue with a sports anchor? Are there any examples that come to mind of a neighborhood that's been rejuvenated by a sports facility? Well, look, look around. Look at the buildings out there. Look across the street at Audi Field. And the
Capitol Riverfront is indeed what happens when cities invest really well in sports. Big projects like RFK are transformational. They're difficult. They require visionary leadership and they require tenacity. And they require somebody who never gives up. And that person is Mayor Muriel Bowser. She had a
couple of obstacles to overcome with that deal, right? The team name wasn't any good. It needed to be changed. The ownership group wasn't that great either. The federal government wouldn't give us the land. And she had to craft an investment package in tough budgetary times. But that's what visionary leaders do. And that's why we are here today. The Washington Nationals are very ho glad to host this travel rally. We're
delighted to be part of the sports community here in DC. and delighted to be a partner of destination DC. I've been affiliated with a lot of institutions in this city over my career. I don't think there's any institution that delivers more with quality people and more to show for his work than Destination DC. So, a shout out to its leader, Elliot Ferguson, my good friend. Thank you for all you do. And
let's rally. [Music] [Applause] Good morning. Gregory McCarthy. What can I say? Um,
I've been in this role for about 16 years and Gregory was one of the earlier uh chairs of our board. Um, and was on the board as we had a former leader. And as we formulated things that were important to us as an organization, it was Gregory that really got people to understand the importance of promoting a destination to bring individuals to Washington. I think sometimes the perception is why do we need to promote Washington? Because people automatically will come. And yes, there will be people that will come to Washington. But shockingly, we have an image problem.
And as we were sharing that message, it was Gregory and his understanding of what it takes to really promote a destination that really helped us to move to where we are. So, as you give me accolades, I want to thank you for being one of the former chairs that really made a difference in terms of leadership with Destination DC. Thank you. So, it's great to be at Nats Park, uh, 17 years old, but looks about two, which is good. And I remember moving here in 2001, what this neighborhood looked like. I think there was one resident and a whole bunch of other stuff. Um, if you're out at 2 o'clock in
the morning with Sean Townsen and I, then you know that it was a fun time and all the clubs were amazing. Uh, but this neighborhood has changed as has so many neighborhoods have have changed in Washington. Uh, travel rally for us is something we've done for over a dozen years uh, in tandem with the US Travel Association and their overwhelming recognition of travel throughout the United States. Um, for us it's really
about, you know, the the perception is we don't see you do a lot in Washington. And yes, we do a lot in Washington, but as I tell people, if you want to see ads on Washington DC, you have to leave Washington, go to Philly, go to other cities to see exactly how we're positioning our city beyond the federal experience. Now, before I get too far, yes, I love monuments, memorials, and museums, but there are two DCs. They're the 534 delegates, not including Elellanena Holmes Norton, that are here in Washington that create laws, uh, and do things that are important to the government, uh, to the city and to the US. But then there's the 700,000 plus of
us that live here that really celebrate the destination as a whole. Our goal is how do we continue to make a difference by visitation? Those that are coming to Washington, spending money so that folks like me and those of you that are here that live in Washington don't have to have don't see additional taxes on our own because why not allow other visitors coming into the city to spend that that money and make a difference. Right. Right. So sometimes it's about the numbers and we're going to talk about the numbers today, but it's also about who's coming and how can we in invest in additional visitors coming to the city. Now today it's about visitation from a national perspective. And yes, we have
more national visitors than we have international visitors. So today I'm pleased to recognize the total number of international visitors that have come to Washington DC. So those of you who are in a seat, drum roll please.
There you go. We're pleased to announce that in Washington DC, we welcome 27.2 million visitors in [Music] [Applause] 2024. So to put this in perspective, thank you. You guys were great on Q. To put that in perspective, the number of visitors that have come to Washington would sell out the national park nationals park 650 times or or or when the new stadium is built, it would sell it out 418 times. So that's
yes, that's a lot of visitation, a lot of people coming into the city and spending money that again we all have the opportunity to take advantage of. Now, the question is, how have we been successful in promoting Washington as a destination? Thanks to the mayor, thanks to her efforts, and of course, city council, we've been uh taking advantage of the tourism recovery district dollars, which started in 2023 as an opportunity to really focus on visitation after COVID when everyone was focusing on getting visitors back to the city. So as we look at the efficacy of those additional dollars, it's tied to the number of individuals that have come to Washington DC. So the immediate bottom line is that investing in our destination, spending money to promote Washington is a big deal. It equates to
11.4 billion in spend, creating $2.3 million in tax revenue for the city. Now sometimes as you look at that number, the question is, what does that mean to me as a household? That means without those visitors, we'd all be spending about $3,600 as a resident in taxes. So
the goal for us is to get additional visitors spending more money in the District of Columbia. That makes a big difference. So for the mayor, for Deputy Mayor Nina Albert, who's here as well, and others, um this means health care, trash collection, schools, um security, things that are important to us are funded by visitors, which is extremely uh beneficial to Washington. Now, Gregory mentioned how the mayor has made a huge impact on Washington during her administration, during the years of in of leadership. She's been committed to this industry like no other. I won't say
no other mayor because they're all been committed, but she always makes a point of being here during the travel rally, during travel rally week for those that are in our industry to understand why tourism is important to the administration and the impact. So along with Nina Albert, along with the city council, she leads the effort to make sure that the needs of this city are taken care of and this industry as a whole along with Sean Townsin with the restaurant association, Solomon Keane with the hotel association, and of course Angie Gates with Events DC. So the next voice you hear and the noise you're making at a rally, because you're supposed to be noisy, right? There you go. will be the voice of our own mayor, Mariel Bowser.
[Applause] Well, hello everybody. Hello DC. Welcome to the sports capitol. I am um so pleased to be here and I want to thank you Elliot for that introduction. I do try to be here not
just for this great travel rally where we talk about our destination, our wonderful venues, all the festivals and activities, all of the workers in Washington DC that are happy to meet and greet everybody and make sure uh you have a a great time. Uh but I also try to be there when we're watching our trends, when we're seeing what's happening around the world, what's happening nationally and what's happening right here in our region. We're always always always thinking about what we can do as a city to invest in our destination to make this a place where people want to go. And I I always remember hearing Elliot say, "We always have to be doing something new. We have to add to our portfolio of of venues, hotels, of restaurants, of museums, of festivals, and yes, sporting venues as well. So, we're always adding to our
destination, and that takes all of us. It takes our economic development investment. It takes how we're taking care of our parks and recreation centers. It takes investments in
transportation. And it takes telling the world that we're not just monuments museums, but we love our monuments museums. We're not just the White House in the Capitol, though we love being host to the federal government. Uh we are also a wonderful collections of neighbors and neighborhoods and great Americans who are living um great and productive lives. So I I want to give another round of applause to Destination DC and the US Travel Association and our incredible hospitality partners. It's always good
to be here at Nats Park. And Gregory, I honestly I couldn't have said it better. Uh the only thing that I would add is that uh we also have champions. We've made champions here at Nats Park and winning the World Series. Uh we showed the world what we can do with big league special events like the MLB Allstar game that we hosted in 2018. Uh, and every commissioner, and I'm I'm not exaggerating, it happened with MLB, it happened with MLS, and it's going to happen with the NFL. They say
nobody does it like they do it in DC for these big events. So, this week I shared my 2026 growth agenda with uh Deputy Mayor Albert where we focused on our need to double down on our sports, entertainment, and tech economies, how to make it easier to do business in DC, how to cut through red tape, and how to attract our big employers. Our challenge is making sure that we continue to be a vibrant city and we have all the tools that it takes. That's why 27.2 million people last year came to visit us in Washington [Music] [Applause] DC. And you won't get tired of hearing
me say these are fun and games. These are great restaurants. This is entertainment, but it is also dollars and cents. Elliott is perfectly correct uh in saying that our economy is based on how we attract business, how we attract tourists, and how we make sure that when people are visiting our destinations, um they're having a great time. What it
means is that a mom um can put her kid through college. It means a family can buy a home. It means people can take advantage of youth sports and raise uh the next premier athlete. All of that is because of the great city that we have built in hospitality uh and the hospitality economy has helped us get there. And so we're going to stand shouldertosh shoulder um build a great economy, invest, invest, invest in attracting people and jobs to our city. And in just a couple of weeks, we're also having another global convening for world pride in Washington [Applause] DC. We all went out and competed.
Destination DC has been promoting globally, inviting people uh to our city. Uh and we look forward to a wonderful Pride celebration that is safe, inclusive. It's downtown, across town, in town, in all eight wards. It is important that Americans show that DC is open and you're welcome to our nation's capital. And please, please enjoy all of
the Pride celebrations. And next year, we're going to be celebrating the semiquincentennial. Say that with me, semiquincentennial or the 250th birthday of America, right here in the nation's capital. So, thank you for all that you're doing. Thank you for being partners to our city. We're going to
stand shouldertosh shoulder. We're turning the tide. Uh, and I look forward to seeing you out there. Let's play ball.
All right. The mayor said it best. Thank you, Mayor Bowser, again for your support. We love the economy where it is. We love the fact that as we're
talking about this industry and the revenue that it's creating, it's also creating over a 100,000 plus jobs. as you see it on the big jumbotron behind me. Uh that's that's not a number to sneeze at. That deserves a round of
applause. So these are jobs at all levels. And sometimes I know that as Jeff Freeman with US Travel U deals with this message that well all hospitality jobs are lowpaying or low wage jobs. And we know that's not accurate. And I love
the fact that this industry as we're competing or as we're looking at other layers of the economy creates so many jobs and continues to create the jobs um thanks to more visitors, more conventions coming into the city which is which is extremely important to us. Now as we look at visitation, not all visitors are the same. Dust dome domestic growth in um Washington has hit record levels. Um, and a third of those that are coming are business travelers, which make up about 45% of the spend.
And we're focusing more on business sectors, um, sectors that matter to the mayor, sectors that matter to the deputy mayor, um, and also international visitors. We talk about international visitors a lot. We love, uh, domestic visitors, and we have more than, um, international visitors. They spend on
average about $600, but international uh visitors spend well over $2,000 plus, which is extremely important to us. They stay longer and they spend more. And the momentum that we're making is and creating is tied to additional visitation. The tourism recovery
district dollars had a lot to do with that. So, as we look at celebrating the numbers from last year, we're also faced with the the dismal perception of international visitation in the future. According to an organization that is extremely important to us, tourism economics, they're predicting uh international tourism will be down by 6.5%.
So, as we're looking at that downturn, remember, they stay longer and they spend more, we're going to be more effective in markets that are important to us. Before the tourism recovery district dollars, we had offices in four different countries, the UK, China, Australia, New Zealand, and India. We Australia, New Zealand is two different countries, but we have reps in just uh one that represents both. With the additional dollars, we opened offices in Canada, uh a UK office for international meetings, Japan, Brazil, and Mexico. And
these are experts that help us focus on bringing international visitation to the city and give us insight as to who may come or who may not come based on variables that are not always in our control. Uh we hold this travel rally with the US travel association because travel and tourism week is important and US travel association spends a lot of time on the hill making sure that our lawmakers understand the importance of what we do on a regular basis. They they tell the elected officials key things like destination marketing organizations are important. So thank you US travel for making sure that we are relevant.
why travel matters and why we have to compete with other countries to bring visitors to the city and why we should have policies that promote travel and safety. And with that, it's been a pleasure to continue to work with the US Travel Association in various capacities. And as always, Jeff Freeman, the US Travel Association president and CEO, is here to offer additional remarks. Jeff. So, I texted Elliot last night and I said, "What should I wear today?" And he said, "Dress like you're going to a ball game. That's what I'm doing." Guy looks a little stiff for a ball game, but I'm glad to be here.
Thank you for having me. Thank you to Elliot. Thank you to Gregory, obviously, to the mayor and her team. It's great to
be with you. I don't need to tell this group just how important travel is. $2.9 trillion dollars it delivers to the economy every year. 1.3 trillion in spending. One in 10 American jobs tied
directly back to this industry. Elliot was talking a little bit about international travel. International travel to the United States generates 180 billion dollar in spending each year. That is bigger than all of our agricultural exports. All of them combined. That's how important the
travel industry is. As we think about how we grow this industry, how we ensure this industry success in the years ahead, we've got some great opportunities in front of us. Number one, all of us, all Americans come out of the pandemic embracing travel more than they ever did before. We put experiences and memories ahead of goods. We want to travel. We want to be on the road. That's a great opportunity for our
industry. The other great opportunity for our industry is the mega decade of events that is coming that are coming to the United States. The World Cup next year, America's 250th birthday, or some call it the semiquincentennial. That was well done. I hadn't heard that before. Uh and I don't know that I can say that right every time. Uh America's 250th birthday,
the Olympics coming to the United States, the Ryder Cup later this year. We have event after event after event that is going to generate travel if we do it right. If we take advantage of the situation, if we solve for some of our challenges, as Elliott suggested, right now there's a perception forming overseas that the US isn't as welcoming as it once was. There's a perception
forming that people might be detained or otherwise discouraged from coming here. I don't think this perception is accurate, but I know we've got a lot of work to do to shape a more favorable perception. We also have to address underlying policy problems. Visa wait time still 200, 300, 500 days long to get an interview to come to the United States. A customs process that is still
awfully inefficient. There are things we can do and must do to to improve these processes. And one thing that hits obviously very close to home that we've got to do to fix the travel experience is we've got to improve the air travel system here in the United States. We all saw firsthand what happens uh right here in Washington when we don't make the investments we need to make in our air traffic control system. When we don't take these issues as seriously as we need to take them. I'm pleased to see the administration lean into these air travel issues, be a partner in improving the air travel experience, something that all of us can celebrate and something that all of us can work with the administration to do. And I'm
thrilled to have all of you as partners as we do that. No one organization, US Travel, Destination DC, or any other is going to drive the outcomes that we need. The travel industry needs to work together more closely than it's ever worked before. The travel industry has
to champion what this industry is about. The travel industry has to paint the picture of what we can do when policymakers partner with us to grow the travel industry. Thank you for being our partners in doing that. Thank you for being here today and thank you for celebrating what this industry is all [Applause] about. Thanks, Jeff. Um, I don't always
um coin other people's phrases, but the thing about dress fake news. Um, I don't recall that text, but I have received texts from you in the past asking what are you wearing, but not this morning. So, uh, normally I say just do you. So, uh, very poignant points from Jeff in terms of what the US travel focuses on. Um, it's important that individuals understand that the business of travel is not just uh going out and promoting, but it's also making it safe, making it easier for visitors to be able to come into the country. Uh, and then of course focus on key initiatives um that that are relevant. Um, and really positioning
the United States as a place for global travelers to want to come. Um, there are a lot of reasons to celebrate in terms of what's happening in Washington this year. The mayor mentioned World Pride, which we're excited to be able to host. Uh, by design, we're here at Nats Park simply because some of the major events that will be taking place for World Pride uh May 17th through June 8th will be right here uh at Nats Park. As we
celebrate the global community uh focusing on the LGBTQ plus community, we also recognize that over 14 plus percent of Washingtonians identify as a part of that community which is extremely important for those visitors to understand. But as we also talk about that, let's talk about some of the things that are coming to Washington DC like the people coming like Cynthia Arivo. Yes. like Doi, like Jennifer Lopez, and of course Shakira here at NatSpark on May 31st. We also recognize that World Pride will be celebrating and focusing on key initiatives such as advocacy, uh, health, sports, and so many different other things that are tied to celebrating the community. So, we're looking forward to that. as we are also
focusing on being the sports capital of the world. I won't have to tell you how important the NFL draft has been. Look at what it did for Detroit last year. Look at what it did for Wisconsin this year. Uh and the economic impact will be
huge in Washington in 2027. Uh the return of the Commanders to Washington DC. I so look forward to that. Uh being able to enjoy a game in Washington DC of our own team. Of course, we celebrate women's sports. uh the Caps being in the playoffs, the 20th anniversary of the Capitals, uh the Nationals being here back in Washington DC, and so many different things including what's happening at the Capital Riverfront. Uh we work closely with all 12 business improvement districts, including the Capital Riverfront uh business improvement district with a Mecha um Mon who's on our board of um as well. So, we
love our neighborhoods. We sell more than just downtown. We also sell our neighborhoods and it's part of our campaign which is what? There's only one DC. I love it when the mayor says it. I
love it when Nina Albert says it. But equally as much the fact that it resonates with locals and with the global community. Um those of us who live, work, and thrive in Washington DC, uh the campaign really works for us. Every time we have a new campaign, I know they're going to be people that love it and then people that don't. But this one particularly resonates in a huge way with visit visitors coming to the city. One of the things in which
we're proud of is the return of of tax dollars that are associated with with our marketing campaign. There's only one DC. For every dollar we spend on promoting Washington as a tourism destination, there's over a $2 return on investment that's associated with that advertising. In 2024, we spent nearly three times more on advertising because of the tourism recovery district dollars than we did in past years, which means, of course, more economic impact and a larger return on investment, which is important. We're excited about FIFA World Cup coming in June of this year.
And of course, we're celebrating Passport DC. I see Diana Mayhew. Congratulations on an amazing national cherry blossom festival. So the thing I love about our city, monuments, memorials, museums, all the other things we have to offer, plus unique events like Passport DC, like the cherry blossom festival, Smithlike f Smithsonian folk life festival, say that slowly, the festival, summer restaurant week with the restaurant association, city open, 8 street festival, DC jazz festival, and really the list goes on and on as reasons for folks to be able to um to invest and come to Washington. So, as we conclude, because it's getting a little warm, uh, and we want to thank you all for coming today to celebrate these numbers, um, we'd like to recognize, um, the board of directors of Destination DC, including our board chair, Me Atkinson, who's sitting in the front. Me is the general manager of the
Roy the new Royal Sinesta Hotel on Capitol Hill. And he along with the other board members, if you have other board members, raise your hand. I saw Nancy Quite earlier. Um, thank you all for your support of our efforts. To Gregory McCarthy and the Nashn Nats, thank you all for hosting us this morning. Thanks for the great weather. Uh, Lee Restaurants, thanks for
the snacks, of course. RCI for the sound system that's working really well. Thank you very much. Our extraordinary entertainment by DJ Cake Pop, who's in the back standing up. Thank you for the
amazing music. You should see what what um the the outfit uh that was chosen. It's pretty pretty snazzy. Christiey's Photo Photographic Solutions for being here. Uh Good Signs LLC, Screech and the Racing Presidents who were here earlier. You'll see them here later
today, probably twice. And last but not least, the Destination DC staff and our events team. Make some noise. Destination DC. I get a lot of positive affirmations as to what we do and I could not do what I do without an amazing team. I've been here for 24 years and many of our leaders have been here for well over 20 years. So, um they must like me. Uh they
love DC, they love what we do and I appreciate the teams in which they brought in together. So, as we conclude, there's always a door prize. Um, we appreciate our members um for being here and we have over 1,400 members now. So
that excuse me over 1,60 members. I don't know what I was thinking. That's aspirational. Um, but before we
conclude, as we're in the Terra Club, if you've never been to a event, a baseball game here, you're in for a treat for those individuals, that individual that's going to win two Terra Club tickets for Wednesday, June 18th versus the Color Rockies. So, Charlie, where are you? Let's Let's find out who won. Charlie, he's way up there. He didn't know.
All right. All right. So, as he's looking it up, um, the winner will go to the registration desk to get your certificates. Um, and, uh, we thank you all for making DC a premier destination.
Thank you, Madame Mayor. Thank you, Deputy Mayor, for all of your assistance and your amazing team that's here. Um, clearly marketing works. The 11.4
million billion dollars um resonates in a positive way. Um, Charlie, are we ready? Do we have a winner? Not yet. Not yet. All right. So, I know we will have a winner and in respect of the warmth of the day, um, I'm going to conclude and we'll make sure we follow up with the winner afterwards. Um and um at this time if there are any press questions I say to those of you who are here, thank you all for coming. Uh and we'll be
happy to take any press uh questions that you have. I know we have a couple of individual pressers after this. So you all are done. Thank you all for coming. Enjoy the rest of your day. We'll see you at the baseball park maybe twice
2025-05-07 14:29
