Visit KC shares 2025 tourism impact and global summer of soccer efforts
KANSAS CITY, MO (May 8, 2026) — As Kansas City prepares to land center stage this summer, Visit KC hosted its Annual Tourism Outlook, celebrating the positive impact of tourism on the community in 2025. The event also highlighted KC’s FIFA World Cup 2026™ journey, from the underdog destination to the heart of the tournament, and how Visit KC has leveraged this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to gain global recognition.
“As we prepare for a major milestone arriving in just a few weeks, I’m eager for the world to discover all the best Kansas City has to offer: our culture, our hospitality, and more than anything, our people,” said Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas. “After this summer, our guests will return home with stories of the American Midwest. It’s our chance to be an unforgettable host community as fans and families create lifelong memories.”
Visit KC shared several 2025 tourism highlights, including an economic impact of $4 billion in annual visitor spending and $280.5 million in local sales tax revenue. Each day, tourism generates $10.8 million in daily spending from the estimated 78,000 daily visitors to the local area.
Conventions and events continued to play a major role in Kansas City’s tourism landscape in 2025 with the Visit KC sales and services team welcoming more than 610,700 attendees across 466 events. Last year, business travel accounted for roughly 553,336 room nights and an economic impact of $477 million.
As the FIFA World Cup 2026™ brought new global attention to the city, Visit KC leveraged the spotlight into meaningful destination awareness. Visit KC developed “For the World. From the Heart.” a multi-country, multilingual marketing campaign using strategic media and evolving audience targeting designed to introduce Kansas City to new international audiences. The campaign placed the city on the global stage, contributing to Kansas City becoming the number one trending domestic destination for summer 2026 (according to Google Flight data).
“This is an unprecedented and unmatched moment to introduce more of the world to the Heart of America,” said Kathy Nelson, president and CEO of Visit KC. “We lead with the World Cup, but we continue with everything Kansas City has to offer. From jazz and barbecue to the stories of our past, and the investments leading us into the future.”
Visit KC’s 2025 integrated marketing campaign inspired roughly 242,000 incremental trips to the destination, driving 669,000 incremental room nights and $187 million in incremental spending. These efforts saw a return on investment of $130 of visitor spending generated for every dollar spent on advertising.
The organization also leveraged the upcoming summer of soccer to help drive travel from new international markets like Argentina and the Netherlands. During recent trade and media missions, Visit KC representatives met with dozens of travel industry professionals including tour operators, travel agents and journalists, educating them on the destination and inspiring numerous KC features in top media outlets.
Visit KC also presented the Kansas City Tourism Icon Award to the Kansas City Streetcar, recognizing the organization’s outstanding service to visitors and the community. With two significant extensions and thousands of riders annually, the KC Streetcar has been a transformative partner in tourism for the destination.
Download Visit KC’s Annual Tourism Highlight Video here
Download high-resolution photos from the 2026 Annual Tourism Outlook here
ABOUT VISIT KC
Attracting millions of visitors to the Kansas City area annually, Visit KC is the internationally accredited chief hospitality sales and marketing organization for the region. With a mission of creating global passion for Kansas City, Visit KC collaborates with nearly 1,000 community partners to drive the marketing, sales and service of the destination’s convention and tourism industry—a sector that supports more than 128,000 local jobs and generates millions of dollars in community spending and sales tax revenue.
For more information about Kansas City, please visit the official Visit KC website. Travelers planning their next trip to Kansas City can also find inspiration and local insights in the 2026 Visit KC Visitors Guide.
