Kansas City looking ahead to '26 World Cup tourism, revenue
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — More than 28 million visitors came to Kansas City in 2024, according to VisitKC, and those visitors spent a total of $4 billion.
At VisitKC's Annual Tourism Outlook on Wednesday, they shared the details of visitors and investment for 2024, as well as looking ahead to future events, like the 2026 World Cup.
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'When you think about that unique visitor coming to Kansas City and their takeaway of 'This was such a fun city, I want to come back and vacation.' That's where my heart goes when you hear those stories,' said VisitKC President and CEO Kathy Nelson about her highlight of 2024.
VisitKC reported record levels of business travel in 2024. 523 events helped fill nearly 528 thousand hotel room nights. That travel accounted for $370 million in economic impact. They also shared that visitors planned 326,000 incremental trips to KC, bringing in another $283 million in spending.
One of Nelson's proudest accomplishments is their marketing campaign. They said that every dollar spent on advertising returned an average of $148 per visitor in spending.
'That's a thing,' Nelson said.
'I mean, it's hard to get any ROI like that.'
Looking ahead means looking towards the FIFA World Cup in 2026, when Kansas City will host 6 matches starting on June 16, 2026.
'The global spotlight on Kansas City will be like nothing we've ever seen before,' Nelson said.
'It's one shot in our lifetime to get this right.'
Nelson shared that Kansas City is ahead in transportation plans compared to other cities. She said FIFA approved phase one of their plan, and they've already secured buses for the event, the first host city to do so.
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Nelson also shared concerns that the number of international travelers might decrease in 2025.
'There's always concerns, no matter what the situation is with the federal government,' she said.
'It is concerning. There's no doubt when you see numbers that are declining instead of growing.'
Despite the concern, Nelson says the occasion is not being taken for granted.
'We can't take this for granted. We're going to be a year out in June,' she said.
Her goal is that international travelers come to a place that they probably haven't been before.
'They may have been in Miami or New York or L.A., but they don't know what Kansas City is,' Nelson said.
'So, it's on us in these coming months to get them to go, 'I got to make a stop in Kansas City.''
The FIFA World Cup matches begin in Kansas City on June 16, 2026.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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