Travel Spending Diverges Across US Tourism Hotspots in 2025

A Mixed Picture for American Tourism

The latest round of state and national tourism data paints a fractured picture of travel demand heading into 2026: some destinations are logging record-breaking visitor spending while others are watching arrivals slide. The divergence is prompting industry gatherings such as the Skift Live Tourism Summit to examine how live events and experiences are increasingly shaping where and how travelers spend their money, positioning event-driven tourism as one of the few reliably growing segments of the broader travel economy 1.

Where Spending Is Setting Records

Several states reported unprecedented tourism revenue in 2025. Virginia topped $36.2 billion in tourism spending for the year, with Governor Glenn Youngkin's successor administration under Gov. Spanberger crediting leisure travel — which made up 90% of overnight visitation — as the primary engine of that growth 6. Utah posted its own record, with visitors pouring $13.7 billion into the state's economy despite what analysts describe as a challenging national travel climate 5. Montana also saw historic numbers, with nonresident visitors spending roughly $5.6 billion in 2025, a figure described as near-record and a continued pillar of the state's economic base 4.

Where the Recovery Is Faltering

Not every destination is sharing in that momentum. Florida reported a second consecutive quarterly decline in tourism, with domestic, overseas, and Canadian visitation into the state all edging down between April and June compared to the same period a year prior. Coverage attributes the softness to a combination of lingering inflation pressures and political rhetoric tied to President Trump that may be discouraging some international visitors 3. That weakness echoes broader concerns about the health of U.S. inbound tourism: while international travel exports have technically returned to pre-pandemic dollar levels, the recovery looks far less robust once adjusted for inflation, meaning the real value of foreign visitor spending in major American cities has not fully rebounded 2.

Why the Divergence Matters

Taken together, the data suggests a bifurcated travel economy. States with strong outdoor recreation, event calendars, and domestic drive-in visitor bases — Utah, Montana, Virginia — are thriving, while states more reliant on international and overseas arrivals, like Florida, are more exposed to currency effects, inflation, and geopolitical sentiment. The emphasis on live events as a growth lever reflects an industry response to this unevenness: destinations are increasingly using concerts, festivals, and experiential programming to manufacture demand rather than waiting on broader macroeconomic tailwinds or international recovery 1. For forecasters, the takeaway is that aggregate national travel-spending figures can mask sharply different regional realities, and any forward-looking demand model needs to account for both the strength of domestic leisure travel and the fragility of inbound international tourism.

The Road Ahead

With inflation still weighing on discretionary budgets and political rhetoric an emerging wildcard for inbound travel, 2026 forecasts will likely hinge on whether record-setting states can sustain momentum while states like Florida work to reverse consecutive quarters of decline.