Houston Set To Break Its All-Time Visitor Record This Year, Boosting Hotel Market
More people will visit Houston in 2024 than ever before, per a new analysis, and the momentum could continue, with major events like the World Baseball Classic and World Cup matches coming to the city in 2026.
Houston is projected to see 54 million visitors this year, up from 51 million in 2023, the city’s destination marketing organization Houston First Corp. said at its State of the Visitor Economy event Tuesday. That has put the city on a path to breaking its all-time visitor record, the organization said.
“We have a very aggressive plan for how we're going to get to where we want to go,” Houston First Corp. President and CEO Michael Heckman said. “We want to continue to set records.”
Part of that plan involves solidifying Houston as a top destination for conferences and conventions, he said. There is a good chance that Houston will exceed its “stretch goal” of 830,000 hotel rooms booked for conventions this year, Heckman said, adding that would break another record.
Those bookings helped raise Houston’s hotel revenue by about 15% this year, according to Houston First data.
“Last year was an all-time record for Houston, for revenue to the Houston market and hotel occupancy tax collector,” Heckman said. “We're going to substantially surpass that this year. So the health of what we're seeing from the hotel perspective is very good.”
Houston First has already set its sights on more growth in that sector. Houston will host the Professional Convention Management Association Convening Leaders conference for the first time starting Jan. 12.
“These are people that decide where the biggest and most important meetings of the year and most valuable meetings go,” Heckman said. “We've been working on this for years.”
That event will bring about 6,000 people to the city, and it’s estimated that half of them will have never been to Houston before, he said. Houston First plans to show attendees how Houston can be differentiated from mega convention rivals like Nashville, New Orleans, Phoenix, Chicago, Atlanta and Dallas.
The PCMA conference will be at George R. Brown Convention Center, which is set for an upgrade next year. Houston City Council approved plans for a $2B convention center transformation project that will include the construction of a new building.
“We will break ground on that next year and aim to have our brand new building at the south of the George R. Brown building in May of 2028,” Heckman said.
Some have questioned the worth of major convention center expenditures. A New York Times story last week concluded that the bulk of the 175 convention centers across the nation operate at a loss. Both Houston and Dallas are investing big bucks into revamped centers.
Houston will host two major events in 2026, including 12 games for the World Baseball Classic at Minute Maid Park and seven matches of FIFA’s World Cup at NRG Stadium.
The World Cup will include a 38-day Fan Fest in East Downtown and is expected to have an economic impact equivalent to the Super Bowl, according to the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority.
“Houston First will have an exceptional partnership with the World Cup host committee, working at the direction of Mayor [John] Whitmire to ensure that we put on a world-class event,” Heckman said. “Failure is never an option. Even coming up short of exceptional expectations for the things that we do is never an option.”
Houston First is proving that already with the events it hosts, Heckman said, including the first Michelin Guide for Texas event at 713 Music Hall on Monday. Five Houston restaurants earned Michelin stars.
“We were told, from the Michelin folks themselves, that it was the best kickoff event that they have done anywhere in the United States,” Heckman said.
