Utah Tourism Hits Record $13.7 Billion in 2025 as Visitor Spending Rises 0.6%
Updated
Updated · KSL.com · Aug 23
Utah Tourism Hits Record $13.7 Billion in 2025 as Visitor Spending Rises 0.6%
3 articles · Updated · KSL.com · Aug 23
Summary
$13.7 billion in visitor spending drove Utah’s tourism economy to a record in 2025, generating $1.6 billion in direct state and local tax revenue and directly supporting 107,500 jobs.
The gain came despite softer headline travel measures: hotel occupancy, state and national park visits, airport passengers and ski visits all fell, while spending from Canada and China dropped 22% and 23%.
Salt Lake City helped offset those losses as downtown hotels and events improved, dining spending rose 5.9%, and tourism jobs tied to spectator sports jumped 17% with new teams and events.
Utah still outpaced the nation in year-over-year visitor spending growth and in accommodation and arts-entertainment-recreation job growth, with another $1.1 billion in taxes generated through indirect and induced effects.
The 2026 outlook points to only modest travel growth, with shorter and cheaper trips expected and inflation, interest rates and policy shifts seen as risks to leisure and business demand.