2024 breaks DC tourism records, officials keeping eye on international travelers

DC Tourism hits record as international visitors lag in 2025

DC Tourism set a record in 2024, but international visitors are lagging in the district and across the country so far in 2025.

WASHINGTON - 2024 was record-breaking for tourism in D.C. – but this year, the District is seeing fewer international tourists. 

By the numbers:

The number of tourists increased 5% last year, totaling 27 million people who spent $11.4 billion.

Money spent by tourists contributed $2.3 billion to the tax base. 

Last year, D.C. saw one million more domestic travelers, an exciting development as the post-COVID bounce-back continues.

International tourists jumped 10% last year, and it’s a highly-coveted group because they stay longer and spend more. But international travel is down so far in 2025, experts say largely because of some of the current political dynamics in the U.S.

Big picture view:

The announcement on 2024 D.C. tourism numbers comes a day after D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser stressed she’d double down on investing in sports —think RFK stadium — as well as a more business-friendly economy.

But with international travelers down, Destination D.C.'s Elliott Ferguson says they are working to attract people to D.C. as a city – disassociated from D.C. as the seat of government. 

"We still have a perception problem when you’re watching the news every single day and seeing politics tied to Washington they don’t get to know things about our city until they come here," said Ferguson. "So the more they get visitors to come, the more we get the press to come to Washington they’re able to share a little bit more about Washington as a destination. But we still have to compete with other cities in the US to bring those visitors to our destination."