Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority sets new record with $1.2B economic impact

January 14, 2026

Charlotte Business Journal | 12.10.2025

For the second consecutive year, the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority set records for revenue and tourism-related spending in fiscal 2025, according to annual figures disclosed this morning at the organization’s monthly board meeting.

Between July 2024 and June 2025, spending from events recruited and booked by the visitors authority and related operations at city government-owned venues generated a combined $1.2 billion in economic impact, according to figures compiled for the organization’s annual report. The annual report was published later today.

The visitors authority promotes leisure tourism, recruits conventions and other events, and manages the following city-owned venues: the convention center, Bojangles Coliseum, NASCAR Hall of Fame and Ovens Auditorium. Another city-owned building, Spectrum Center, is managed by the NBA Charlotte Hornets but the visitors authority oversees security, maintenance and event staging and set-up for all events at the arena.

Overall economic impact increased from $1.1 billion in fiscal 2024. The visitors authority generated revenue of $57.7 million during fiscal 2025, up from $55.9 million a year ago.

Visitors authority CEO Steve Bagwell reviewed the results today with the 13-member board in a meeting room at the convention center. The setting put an exclamation point on the record results: Thousands of youth cheerleaders and their parents roamed the convention center’s halls, mobbing the Starbucks and buying up snacks in between competitions as part of the Pop Warner National Cheer & Dance Championships. A companion national championship competition of 88 boys football teams, like the cheer event, is in town for the week.

Together, the Pop Warner championships are filling 20,000 hotel rooms, one of the largest conventions of the year. Having an event of this scale in December adds to its importance since convention bookings ebb during the holiday season.

“Hopefully, you’re able to make your way through the building,” Bagwell told the board, referring to the cheerleader competition crowds filling the convention center. The Pop Warner football championship, held at the Mecklenburg County Sportsplex at Matthews, is boosting restaurants and other businesses in that part of town, he added.

“That’s a big win,” Bagwell said of the cheer and football championships, held in Orlando, Florida, for the past five years. “We have this event back next year and we hope to get them for a year after that, as well. … Our sales team got them to choose Charlotte over Orlando. We’re really excited about the possibilities there.”

According to the annual report, in fiscal 2025 the visitors authority’s results included:

  • 473,000 hotel room nights sold through various social- and traditional media marketing campaigns steered by the visitors authority
  • 119,786 hotel room nights sold through events held at the convention center
  • 202,160 visitors to the NASCAR Hall of Fame

In addition, the visitors authority’s events and operations are part of an overall tourism sector that attracted $9.1 billion in direct spending, including hotel rooms, restaurant meals, bar tabs and transportation, among other expenses.

The visitors authority’s $1.2 billion estimated impact is made up of the following components:

  • $640.2 million from leisure marketing-fueled visits
  • $333.5 million from sporting events, including amateur sports competitions and neutral-site special events (PGA Championship, Savannah Bananas, ACC Football Championship Game, Duke’s Mayo Bowl and Duke’s Mayo Classic)
  • $102.9 million from conventions and meetings, with the convention center accounting for $87.6 million of that amount
  • $68.5 million from the NASCAR Hall of Fame
  • $60.8 million from events at Bojangles Coliseum and Ovens Auditorium. According to the visitors authority, one in three attendees of events at Bojangles and Ovens came from 100 miles or more away

Independent economists have consistently found internal industry tourism impact studies to be inflated. Tourism leaders and executives contend that there are clear benefits from big events and conventions that are additive to local economies and create intangible benefits through positive publicity and word-of-mouth.

Charlotte tourism leaders said the industry is in a boom phase.

“If somebody’s not happy in tourism these days, they’ve got bigger problems than anybody can solve,” Mohammad Jenatian, CEO of the Greater Charlotte Hospitality & Tourism Alliance, told CBJ. “Business has been great. Everything’s humming. … We’re investing in our industry and seeing results.”

The latter remark refers to a two-year, $245 million renovation of Spectrum Center, completed in October, and an upcoming five-year, $800 million makeover of Bank of America Stadium, home to the NFL Carolina Panthers and Major League Soccer team Charlotte FC.

All of the arena renovation costs and 80% of the stadium improvements are being paid for by existing tourism taxes. Last month, City Council approved spending $25 million to update the NASCAR Hall of Fame. A portion of hotel room taxes will fund the hall of fame project.

More facility renovations are expected to be proposed soon, again with tourism tax revenue helping pay much or all of the cost. Bojangles Coliseum and Ovens Auditorium are 70-year-old buildings; the visitors authority began studying possible improvements and necessary repairs last year, though a formal proposal and construction cost have yet to be unveiled. Executives with the Charlotte Knights baseball team have said that their uptown ballpark, Truist Field, will soon need upgrades, too, with hopes of a mix of taxpayer and private funding.

Tourism remains an important part of the labor market, too. According to federal data, leisure and hospitality jobs employed 163,800 people in the Charlotte metro area in August 2025, the most recent figures available. A year ago, the number was 157,600; in August 2019, it was 150,900.