The Economic Case 
for Convention 
and Visitors Bureaus

$1.3 trillion in direct traveler spending. 15 million jobs. A destination-wide market force no single hotel or attraction could build alone — here's how CVBs actually create it.

Quick Summary

Convention and visitors bureaus aggregate a destination's hotels, venues, attractions, and services into one coordinated market force. U.S. travelers directly spent $1.3 trillion in 2024, supporting $2.9 trillion in total economic output, more than 15 million jobs, and $89 billion in state and local tax revenue. Destinations that invest in promotion funding see it show up directly in the numbers — not just anecdotally.

Why This Matters

Every dollar a visitor spends locally is a dollar that didn't have to come from a resident's paycheck or a local tax increase — that's the economic case for a CVB in one sentence, and the data backs it up in specific, measurable ways.

The National Scale, in Real Numbers

Tourism's economic footprint is genuinely large. In 2024, U.S. travelers directly spent $1.3 trillion, supporting $2.9 trillion in total economic output, more than 15 million jobs, and $89 billion in state and local tax revenue. Total travel-generated federal, state, and local tax revenue reached $190 billion — revenue that, absent tourism, households would otherwise have to replace at an estimated $1,490 more per household to sustain the same level of public services.

Five Ways the Benefit Actually Flows Through a Local Economy

  • Export revenue — visitors inject outside spending directly into local hotels, restaurants, retail, transportation, and services — money that wouldn't otherwise enter the local economy at all.         
  • Tax-base diversification — nonresidents contribute sales, lodging, rental-car, and restaurant taxes that residents alone would otherwise have to bear.        
  • Supplier effects — destination businesses purchase accounting, insurance, maintenance, food, technology, and construction services locally. One multi-destination study estimated $0.60 in indirect and induced business sales for every $1 of direct visitor spending.         
  • Employment and entrepreneurship — visitor demand sustains jobs and lowers the market-entry barrier for local tours, food businesses, attractions, and cultural enterprises.         
  • Asset utilization — meetings and events fill hotels, venues, and transportation capacity precisely during the periods that would otherwise sit soft.

The Evidence That Promotion Funding 
Actually Works

A study comparing 29 Tourism Improvement District cities against a control group of 100 U.S. cities from 2003 to 2019 found a real, measurable shift: before added promotion funding, these destinations underperformed their competitive markets in room demand by 0.12 percentage point annually. After funding increased, they outperformed by 0.34 point. Room-revenue growth swung even further — from a 0.20-point underperformance to a 1.30-point premium relative to competitors.

What This Looks Like in a Single City

Chicago's 2024 numbers illustrate the scale at the city level: 55.3 million visitors, $20.9 billion in expenditures, $2.8 billion in state and local tax revenue, and 133,252 tourism jobs — built in part on 1,891 conventions and meetings generating $3.03 billion in impact. Orange County, Florida tells a similar story through its tax structure directly: a 6% Tourist Development Tax that generated $359,464,591 in FY2024, funding both destination promotion and $90,053,909 in convention-center operating revenue, up 21.83% from the prior year.

Daryon Hotels International contributed a practitioner's perspective to the research behind this article — direct experience forming and directing convention centers, managing international conventions, and operating large hotels whose extensive meeting space lets them function as convention centers in their own right. Learn more at Daryon.com.

Key Takeaways

U.S. travelers directly spent $1.3 trillion in 2024, supporting $2.9 trillion in total economic output and more than 15 million jobs.

Every dollar of direct visitor spending generates an estimated $0.60 in additional indirect and induced local business activity.

Cities that increased destination-promotion funding saw room demand and room-revenue growth shift from underperforming competitors to outperforming them.

Tourism tax revenue reduces the amount residents would otherwise pay to sustain the same level of public services — an estimated $1,490 per household nationally.

faq

How much does tourism actually contribute to the U.S. economy? 
In 2024, U.S. travelers directly spent $1.3 trillion, supporting $2.9 trillion in total economic output, more than 15 million jobs, and $89 billion in state and local tax revenue. 

Does destination-promotion funding actually produce measurable results? 
Yes. A study of 29 Tourism Improvement District cities found that after promotion funding increased, these destinations moved from underperforming their competitors in room demand to outperforming them by 0.34 percentage point annually. 

How does visitor spending benefit residents who never work in tourism? 
Through tax-base diversification and supplier effects — nonresidents pay sales, lodging, and restaurant taxes that offset costs residents would otherwise bear alone, and tourism businesses purchase accounting, insurance, and other services from the broader local economy.