Tourism

Just three years after the pandemic abruptly halted travel around the world, Seattle has made significant progress getting tourists to return downtown. The success of downtown in attracting out-of-town visitors and generating strong demand for hotels, particularly during the summer months, underscores the city’s status as a premier tourist destination in the Pacific Northwest.

Boasting iconic landmarks such as the Space Needle, Pike Place Market and waterfront, downtown offers a diverse array of attractions and experiences that appeal to travelers from around the world. In 2023, the center city saw post-pandemic highs of out-of-town visitors (i.e., visitors from 100 or more miles away) and a record number of cruise ship passengers traveling through Seattle. In the summer of 2023, downtown also recorded the highest two-day total number of visitors since early 2018.

With the opening of the new Seattle Convention Center Summit building, the number of new conventions secured in 2023 surpassed 2019’s total. Hotel demand continues to rise and is closing in on pre-pandemic levels — even exceeding 2019 demand multiple times in the summer of 2023. Visits to some of downtown’s most-loved attractions have also passed pre-pandemic counts, affirming that tourists are coming back to experience all that downtown has to offer. Additionally, as one of just a few major U.S. cities with all its professional sports teams playing downtown, our sports venues are significant assets that helped increase visitor foot traffic in 2023.

Key Takeaways

• Between Memorial Day and Labor Day 2023, downtown Seattle welcomed nearly 3.5 million unique out-of-town visitors*, a post-pandemic high and an 8% increase compared to 2022.
• Between July and September 2023, downtown hotels sold more room nights than during the same period in 2019.
• In 2023, downtown saw the highest two-day total visitor foot traffic since at least 2018, with nearly 900,000 visits downtown over the July 22-23 weekend.
• Out-of-town visitor foot traffic in 2023 surpassed 2019 levels for many downtown attractions, including the Seattle Aquarium and Space Needle.

• In 2023, visits to the Seattle Aquarium, Space Needle and both Lumen Field and T-Mobile Park surpassed 2019 numbers for visitor foot traffic.
• Downtown’s iconic Pike Place Market welcomed 5.4 million visitors in 2023 — a 13% increase from 2022. While the Market has not yet caught up to pre-pandemic levels, it continues to see an increase in traffic.
• Lumen Field and T-Mobile Park visitors have been rapidly increasing with a combined 8.5 million visits in 2023 — a 25% increase from 2022.
• Climate Pledge Arena, which reopened in 2021, is also indicating an upward trend, with nearly 3 million visitors in 2023 — a 11% increase from 2022.
• Fueled by major concerts and the MLB All-Star game, July 2023 was the biggest month for Lumen Field and T-Mobile Park with 1.5 million visitors — a 56% increase from 2022.