Axios Seattle: Tourists and workers return to Seattle

Seattle’s downtown recovery continues with tourists and visitors returning to the city in force and the number of daily workers at its highest in more than four years, according to new data.

Why it matters: Seattle’s pandemic recovery has lagged behind some other cities — in part because remote work in Washington remains relatively high.

• The newest figures from the Downtown Seattle Association, though, show visitors returning at nearly pre-pandemic levels and worker foot traffic continuing to climb.

State of play: Compelled by return-to-office mandates from the city and companies like Amazon, workers are increasingly coming back downtown, the report shows.

By the numbers: Downtown averaged more than 90,000 daily workers last month, the highest daily average since March 2020, according to DSA’s July report.

• That’s a 14% increase over June 2023, but is still only 58% of daily worker foot traffic from June 2019, per the report.
• The city saw nearly 2.9 million visitors last month, which is about 91% of the visitors seen in June 2019.
• Nearly 400,000 downtown hotel rooms were booked last month.

What they’re saying: “Downtown’s continued revitalization is being driven by people, and we’re seeing strong numbers with the highest number of workers in more than four years,” DSA President & CEO Jon Scholes told Axios in an email.

• Additionally, more local visitors went downtown, he said, the fourth highest total since March 2020.

• “Getting Seattleites to rediscover what they love about downtown is key to maintaining momentum,” Scholes said.

What’s next: While workers may never return to the office for the pre-pandemic norm of a Monday-through-Friday work week, there are opportunities for business to cater to a growing residential base, according to DSA.

• The number of occupied apartment units increased to more than 58,000 in June, a 3% increase over the third quarter of 2023 and a 17% increase over the third quarter of 2019.
• The city is also experimenting with how to make it easier to convert offices to residential buildings, which are poised to skyrocket in the coming years.