Economic Impact
2025 Metrics Report
Message from David Gilbert
Cleveland’s visitor economy continued its steady growth in 2025, with visitation increasing for the fifth straight year. Cuyahoga County recorded 18.9 million visits, a 1.7% increase from 2024 that outpaced both domestic and statewide visitation growth.
Those visits bring meaningful economic benefits to our community. Visitors spent a record $7 billion at local hotels, restaurants, attractions, shops and other businesses in 2025, contributing $11.4 billion in total economic impact. Travel and tourism also supported more than 70,400 local jobs and generated tax revenues that benefit Cuyahoga County residents.
The value of visitation extends beyond the immediate economic impact. Every visit is an opportunity to shape how someone thinks about Cleveland. When visitors have a positive experience here, they can become advocates for the city, inspire others to visit and strengthen consideration of Cleveland as a place to live, work and invest.
Looking ahead, significant investment across the destination is creating new experiences and new reasons to visit. Nearly $5 billion in waterfront investment, new professional sports teams, new hotels, airport modernization and other developments are helping lay the groundwork for Cleveland’s next period of accelerated visitation growth. At Destination Cleveland, our work is to connect these developments into a larger Cleveland story that builds interest in visiting and helps our community capitalize on the groundswell these investments can create.
A summary of the economic value of travel and tourism to Cuyahoga County in 2025 can be found below.
David Gilbert
President & CEO of Destination Cleveland
Visits
Total leisure and business visits to Cuyahoga County increased 1.7% from 2024, marking the fifth straight year of visitation growth. This outpaced both domestic (1.5%) and Ohio (1.2%) visitation growth.
Direct Business Sales
Visitors spent a record $7 billion at Cuyahoga County hotels, restaurants, attractions, shops and other businesses in 2025, bringing new dollars into the local economy.
Economic Impact
Visitor spending generated a total economic impact of $11.4 billion in Cuyahoga County in 2025, demonstrating the significant role travel and tourism plays in the local economy.
Employment
Travel and tourism supported more than 70,400 direct, indirect and induced jobs in 2025, representing 7.3% of all jobs in Cuyahoga County. Locals in visitor-supported jobs took home $3.8 billion in personal income.
Tax Benefit per Household
Visitor-supported spending, jobs and business sales generated $1.6 billion in tax revenue. This revenue is equivalent to a $1,475 tax benefit for each Cuyahoga County household in 2025.
