Zeek Coleman, vice president at the Americas division at Tourism Economics, made a presentation during a joint Frisco City Council and Visit Frisco board of directors meeting Nov. 9. The presentation highlighted the economic impact of tourism in Frisco during 2021.
Key findings from the study highlighted a 3.4% increase in visitors compared to 2019 and a 2.9% increase in visitor spending compared to 2019. Across 2021, Frisco hosted 6.4 million visitors, who spent $1.5 billion in the city’s economy, according to the presentation.
The number of visitors increased by 43% when compared to 2020 and visitor spending levels increased by about 75% when compared to 2020.
Of that $1.5 billion, Frisco’s retail sector claimed 35%, or $515.3 million and the food and beverage sector claimed about 29%, or $431 million, data showed. Coleman pointed out that Frisco’s tourism industry showed significant growth in large part due to the increased number of day visitors, or people who arrive in Frisco and leave on the same day. Day visitors were up by nearly a million people from 2020.
“[During the pandemic] people did not want to go inside of cities,” Coleman said. “They didn't want to be in congested areas. They wanted to be outdoors, but you guys have sort of bucked the trend because of your strong retail and your strong day visitation.”
Tourist spending in Frisco led to an economic impact of about $1.8 billion that supported 13,000 jobs and offset residents’ tax bill by about $1,586, according to the presentation.
Despite Tourism Economics’ parent company Oxford Economics predicting a mild recession in 2023, Coleman maintained that people have money saved from the pandemic and they are going to want to spend money on travel.
“You guys are trending for a full recovery and it's pretty aggressive,” he said. “Every category outpaced 2019 except lodging, and lodging is trending towards outpacing 2019 already in early 2022.”
