BY THE NUMBERS
2020 : A Year Of Challenges And Uncertainty
This is a pivotal and unprecedented time for the city . The COVID pandemic is challenging our hospitality community in ways we ’ ve never experienced , threatening to upend an industry that ’ s historically the third largest economic driver for Baltimore .
According to data from Longwoods International and Tourism Economics , 27 million visitors generated a total of $ 6 billion in economic impact in calendar Year 2019 . Since 2018 , these numbers increased by 1.1 % and 2.6 % respectively .
In CY 2019 , visitor spending sustained
86,827
total jobs , directly and indirectly
Visitor spending increased by 2.6 % that year , generating
$ 312 MILLION
in city tax revenue alone
The percent of overnight trips categorized as “ marketable ”— that is , trips influenced by marketing efforts — increased to 34 %. This is up by 9 % since 2018 and we haven ’ t seen this level since 2014 .
Smith Travel Research ( STR ) data estimates that the combined COVID-related revenue loss for the hotel tax collection and Baltimore Tourism Improvement District ( BTID ) collection was approximately
$ 7 MILLION
for the FY20 fiscal year
The U . S . Travel Association ( USTA ) reported that 15.8 million travel-related jobs in the U . S . have been lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic . This has resulted in an industry unemployment rate of 51 %, which is more than twice the 25 % unemployment rate that the country experienced as a whole during the Great Depression .
51 %
While Visit Baltimore has lost $ 7M ( and counting ) Baltimore ’ s economy has lost an estimated
$ 91.7 MILLION
just from BCC convention business
travel industry unemployment today
25 % total unemployment , Great Depression
According to a travel forecast prepared for USTA by Tourism Economics , through the end of 2020 , there will be an estimated
$ 505 billion in losses for the U . S . travel industry
including both domestic and international travel .
The travel industry is not expected to recover until
2024
3