2025 State of the Visitor Industry: Third Quarter Report

COLUMBUS, Ohio—The 2025 State of the Visitor Industry: Third Quarter Report made available today by Experience Columbus and the Greater Columbus Sports Commission reflects on the strength of the local travel economy from Jan. 1 through Sept. 30, 2025. The third quarter of the year brought major conventions and sporting events to Columbus as well as leisure travelers visiting for summer and taking advantage of Columbus’ festival season.  
 
Columbus’ reputation as a must-visit destination year-round continued to gain national recognition throughout the summer with outlets like The Points Guy naming Ohio’s capital one of the world’s most underrated summer destinations and Food & Wine calling Columbus one of America’s next great food cities. Experience Columbus’ Yes, Columbus campaign continued throughout the third quarter, and the summer campaign resulted in 72 million impressions, 1.3 million web sessions and a 22.6% arrival lift from paid media exposures, according to Arrivalist.  
 
From Jan. 1 through Sept. 30, Columbus hosted a total of 365 conventions, trade shows and sporting events. Some of the top groups welcomed from July through September included the National Association for College Admission Counseling’s Annual National Conference, which brought in 6,000 attendees, filled 16,000 hotel rooms and had an estimated direct visitor spend of $8.6 million, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States Auxiliary’s Annual National Convention, which brought 6,000 attendees, filled 11,000 hotel rooms and had an estimated direct visitor spend of $9.2 million. On the sports side, Stonewall Sports National Tournament & Summit in July brought in 1,500 participants and $2.4 million in direct visitor spending, while the sold-out U.S. Men’s National Team vs. Japan match in September marked the USMNT’s third appearance at Lower.com Field and represented $1.3 million in direct visitor spending.  
 

“As 2025 comes to a close, we are pleased to see that despite global challenges for our industry, Columbus’ local travel economy remains steadfast with growth across all key performance indicators,” said Experience Columbus President and CEO Brian Ross, ECI. “The visitors who make more than 53 million trips to Columbus annually bring vital new revenue into our community to positively impact all of Central Ohio. From major new accolades for Columbus to global events like the Forbes Under 30 Summit, the third quarter brought several highlights."

From Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, 2025, the STR report, which provides data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights for the global hospitality industry, shows that all key performance metrics increased year over year: 

*RevPAR is a hotel industry performance metric, which is calculated by multiplying a hotel’s ADR by its occupancy rate. 
 
Year-to-date bed tax collections through Sept. 30, 2025 totaled more than $45 million, up 4.8% over the same period in 2024, according to reports from the Office of City of Columbus Auditor Megan Kilgore. Looking ahead, Experience Columbus and the Greater Columbus Sports Commission booked future business accounting for 398,201 room nights.
 

“This has been another strong year for sports,” said Greater Columbus Sports Commission CEO and President Linda Logan, ECI. “Volleyball events continued to be a mainstay with more than 10 events at the Greater Columbus Convention Center and the NCAA Men’s Championship returning to the Covelli Center in May. During the third quarter, we hosted several new events, including the Masters CrossFit Games, Stonewall Sports National Tournament and USA Hockey Level 5 Coaches Symposium.” 

Looking ahead, Experience Columbus is inviting visitors to enjoy the holiday season in Columbus, from festive holiday events across the city to dazzling light displays at attractions like Columbus Commons and the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. Experience Columbus' Columbus Gift Guide, presented by Santa 95, returned for its sixth year and features 100 curated items across six categories to inspire visitors and locals to shop local this holiday season.  
 
To view past Experience Columbus and Greater Columbus Sports Commission quarterly reports, visit ExperienceColumbus.com/Reports.  
 
About Experience Columbus  
Experience Columbus is the destination marketing organization for the Columbus region dedicated to growing visitor spending and enhancing the visitor experience. Annually, visitors make 53.2 million trips to Greater Columbus for conventions, trade shows, sporting events and leisure visits, spending $8.2 billion and supporting more than 82,500 jobs. For more information, visit ExperienceColumbus.com.  
 
About the Greater Columbus Sports Commission 
The Greater Columbus Sports Commission’s mission is to rally Columbus to compete and win sporting events, providing a singular athlete and fan experience and positively impacting image, economy and lifestyle. Since 2002, the Greater Columbus Sports Commission has hosted more than 1,250 sporting events, generating an estimated $1.7 billion in direct visitor spending. For more information, visit ColumbusSports.org. 

# # # 

Media Contacts:  
Leah Berger, APR, ECI: lberger@experiencecolumbus.com | 614-222-6145 
Cameron Walker, ECI: cwalker@experiencecolumbus.com | 614-222-6146