Wake, Mecklenburg Counties Report Record Visitor Spending

August 24, 2026

8.20.2026

The greater Raleigh area and Wake County saw yet another year of record tourism in 2025.

Visit Raleigh released the numbers on Thursday, saying a record-breaking 19.1 million people visited Wake County in 2025. That’s about a half-percent increase from 2024.

The millions of visitors translated into billions of dollars for spending in the community. Visit Raleigh said people from outside the area spent a record-breaking $3.43 billion in the community last year, which is about 2.3% higher than 2024.

Visit Raleigh said it independently contracted with tourism research firm Tourism Economics to estimate the tourism figures.

Wake County has seen a steady trend of year-over-year growth in tourism in the past five years and has rebounded from lows seen during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

Visit Raleigh said the visitors brought in about $342 million in state and local tax revenues last year. Tourism tax dollars are used to pay for education, school construction and several quality-of-life amenities for residents.

Dennis Edwards, President and CEO of Visit Raleigh, said they are expecting similarly big tourism numbers for 2026 thanks to big moments such as the Carolina Hurricane’s Stanley Cup win.

“We’re proud to share that Wake County broke visitation, visitor spending and hospitality tax collection records in 2025 thanks to leisure travel, major sporting events, meetings and conventions across the county in conjunction with the continued implementation of the county’s destination strategic plan,” Edwards said. “The vital role tourism plays in our local economy remains strong. Added visitation and spotlight on Raleigh with the Carolina Hurricanes Stanley Cup win in June and The New York Times ’36 Hours in Raleigh’ coverage earlier this year laid the groundwork for another successful year in 2026.”

8.14.2026

Visitor spending in Mecklenburg County and across North Carolina last year eclipsed records set in 2024, including a local haul of $6.5 billion, according to new figures compiled by Philadelphia-based tracking firm Tourism Economics.

The new data, published Thursday, comes from an annual study commissioned by Visit NC, the tourism division of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina. The findings are based on government and industry measures.

Mecklenburg County remained the state’s top county for tourism spending in 2025. It is the second largest by population, with 1.23 million residents, trailing only Wake County with 1.26 million, according to Census Bureau figures.

Tourism spending grew by 1.5% to $6.47 billion in Mecklenburg, according to the latest figures, up from $6.4 billion — an 8.9% jump — the previous year. Visitors generated $430.4 million in combined local and state tax revenue while helping support 38,380 jobs, up from $419 million and 37,969 jobs, respectively, in 2024.

Among the major events for Charlotte in 2025: The PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club, which attracted 175,000 attendees, 75% of whom came from outside the region. A separate Tourism Economics study determined that the PGA Championship added $192 million to the local economy, ranking among the largest in the area’s history.

The Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority assesses tourism activity across a 15-county area, made up of 11 N.C. counties and four in South Carolina (Chester, Chesterfield, Lancaster and York). The Visit NC study measures North Carolina only. Using the new figures, regional tourism spending totaled $9.25 billion, up from $9.1 billion.

The 11 counties included in the figure above are Alexander, Cabarrus, Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Stanly and Union. Beyond the $9.25 billion in visitor spending, the Charlotte region benefited from 56,500 direct jobs and $620.6 million in combined local and state tax revenue, according to Tourism Economics data.

“Tourism is economic development in action,” visitors authority CEO Steve Bagwell said. “Every convention, sporting event, concert and leisure trip brings new dollars into our community. Those dollars support the people who work here, strengthen businesses across our region and generate revenue that benefits the people who live here. As competition for visitors, conventions and major events grows, Charlotte must continue investing in the hospitality infrastructure and destination assets that allow us to compete and win, bringing even more of that economic impact home to our community.”

Tourism tax revenue paid for a two-year, $245 million renovation of Spectrum Center completed last year. This summer, work began on a $1.3 billion update and overhaul of Bank of America Stadium — a five-year project being paid for with an equal mix of $650 million each from tourism tax revenue and private money from stadium owner Tepper Sports & Entertainment.

Additional tourism-funded projects are under discussion, including renovations for Truist Field, the Triple A home of the Charlotte Knights, and a 40-court tennis complex that could help attract an annual pro tennis tournament.

North Carolina as a whole generated visitor spending of $37.2 billion in 2025, breaking the record set the previous year by 1.3%. Tourism supported 230,997 jobs while producing $1.39 billion in state tax revenue and $1.33 billion in local taxes.

Mecklenburg County’s $6.5 billion worth of visitor spending accounted for 17.4% of the state’s total.