Indianapolis Tourism Drives Record-Setting Impact
February 2, 2018
Visitors to Indianapolis have boosted the region’s economy with record spending for six consecutive years, according to research conducted by Rockport Analytics for Visit Indy, Indianapolis’ official destination marketing organization (DMO).
A record 28.6 million visitors added $5.2 billion in economic impact to Indy’s economy in 2016, the most recent full year data available. The region has recorded record annual visitor spending every year since 2011.
Visit Indy also reported another strong convention year and leisure tourism results for 2017.
Visit Indy booked 874,473 future group room-nights (which includes conventions, trade shows, meetings and events) in 2017 for events which will occur as far out as 2028, worth about $1 billion in future visitor spending. It marks the fourth consecutive year booking more than 870,000 future group room-nights.
A few of the major wins that contributed to the success in 2017 include:
- Collaborating with the Indiana Sports Corp, Pacers Sports & Entertainment, Indianapolis Colts, and others to win the NBA All-Star Weekend (2021) and the College Football National Championship (2022).
- First-time bookings from the American Society for Microbiology (2018), American Wind Energy Association (2021), Fraternal Order of Police Grand Lodge (2021), and Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (2022); and extending Gen Con’s convention in Indy to 2022.
- Working with the Indianapolis International Airport, the Indiana Economic Development Corp., and others to help secure the state’s first transatlantic non-stop flight, an Indy-to-Paris connection on Delta beginning in May 2018.
The number of “consumed” group room-nights – those that actually convened in 2017 – set a new record with more than 836,600 room-nights, beating 2016’s record of 822,654 room-nights and 2012′s Super Bowl-fueled mark of 819,305 room-nights. The groups that met here in 2017 were booked by Visit Indy as far back as 2005.
National media also took notice, with Indy making headlines with some of the travel industry’s most respected names:
“Best Places to Travel in 2017” – Travel + Leisure
“America’s Favorite Food Cities” – Food & Wine
“6 Cities to Watch in 2017” – Condé Nast Traveler
“Best Places to Travel in 2018” – Out Magazine
“#1 Airport in America” – Condé Nast Traveler