Why 2024 could be a record year for Indianapolis tourism (thanks, Taylor Swift)
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — With a packed calendar of high-profile events, including three Taylor Swift concerts, many businesses on Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis are seeing a positive impact and are thrilled for future events.
Chris Gahl, executive vice president of the city’s tourism arm, Visit Indy, said, “We’re seeing 2 or 3 percentage points higher than the record setting pre-pandemic levels for tourism.”
With the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium completed Sunday, Indianapolis is hoping to ride a tidal wave of tourism this year. City leaders believe Indianapolis is on course to surpass pre-pandemic levels. “We started the year strong with the NBA All-Star Game and, now saying goodbye, literally tearing down USA Swimming, and getting ready to welcome Indiana Black Expo Summer Celebration,” Gahl said.
He says the city is on a record-setting pace in 2024, expecting 32 million visitors and $6 billion in economic impact by the end of the year.
The city is turning its attention to another round of high-profile gatherings just weeks away. “Roughly 100,000 visitors will descend on Indianapolis from all over the globe as part of the National Eucharistic Congress. Again, this is an event the city has never hosted, and (the convention) has not been hosted in North America for nearly four decades,” Gahl said.
The Sun & Moon Cafe and other downtown businesses report seeing an increased stream of travelers, and they say it hasn’t stopped since the total eclipse. “Whenever the (Indiana) Convention Center does something, they always come to us, especially on the eclipse that we had recently,” said Ashley Wilcher, manager of Sun & Moon Cafe.
Still to come: Three Taylor Swift concerts on Nov. 1, 2, and 3 at Lucas Oil Stadium could mean well over $150 million for the Indianapolis economy. Those concerts will be the final ones of her tour in America. Visit Indy says hotel bookings for November are up 162.8% year over year.
“Heads-in-beds” is one of Visit Indy’s key tourism barometers, if local hotels are full, tourism spending is happening. Here’s where we stand to date:
- Hotels in the Indianapolis metropolitan statistical area are enjoying a record-setting number of rooms booked, and a record-setting amount of revenue generated at $347.3 million.
- Downtown hotel occupancy is up 4% over last year. At 66%, that’s slightly above the national average at 60%.
- Downtown hotel rooms are selling at the highest average daily rate ever recorded, at $204.32 per night per room. The the national average is $155.73.
The short-term rental market — AirBnB and VRBO — also is performing at record levels:
- Bookings up 26.9% year-over-year.
- Revenue up 45.1% year-over-year.
- November 2024 bookings are up 162.8% year-over-year, likely due to the impact of three scheduled Taylor Swift concerts.