Published on : Thursday, February 27, 2020
About 41.9 million visitors dropped in to King County last year, marking a 2.3% increase from 2018, according preliminary numbers from Visit Seattle, the county’s tourism marketing organization. The visitors spent $8.1 billion, which Visit Seattle branded as “impressive” increase of 3.6%.
The number of tourists visiting the region has increased every year since 2010.
Visit Seattle President and CEO Tom Norwalk said that the organization is “excited” by the numbers; however, he warned that tourism is fragile “as global events directly impact lives and businesses in Seattle and our region.”
Norwalk said that the corona virus outbreak will result in 30,000 fewer tourists from China this year, marking a 15% decline.
Visit Seattle will release the final numbers in May.
Tags: visit King County