Destination DC announced last week that Washington saw an increase in visitor spending for 2007, with 16.2 million travelers bringing $5.54 million to the area—up from 15.1 million visitors who spent $5.24 million the previous year. Lodging spending went up 5 percent to $2.0 million, while the average daily hotel rate increased 7 percent to $204. The number of international visitors rose by 13 percent to 1.2 million people, who represented 27 percent of all spending for the year.
Visitation figures are not expected to rise in 2008, due to the difficult economy, but two months so far have seen record hotel occupancy for the city—89 percent in April and 85 percent in July. The bumps are partially due to recent citywide conferences at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, such as Alpha Kappa Alpha’s centennial celebration and the National Education Association annual meeting, which have seen more than 520,000 rooms booked so far for 2008—a 22 percent increase over 2007.
Upcoming conventions include the AARP Life @50+ National Event & Expo, which opens tomorrow, the 15,000-person American Society for Microbiology/Infectious Diseases Society of America ICAAC/IDSA Joint Meeting from October 25 to 28, and the Society of Neuroscience Annual Convention, which expects 35,000 attendees from November 16 to 19.
