The 2026 World Cup Was Supposed To Supercharge U.S. Tourism. The Actual Numbers Tell A Different Story

The Hotel Boom Fell Short

Tourism Economics estimated that the World Cup would generate nearly $900 million in additional hotel room revenue across the U.S., roughly equal to the impact of hosting 10 Super Bowls within six weeks.

However, post-tournament analysis by HVS puts the incremental room revenue generated during host cities' World Cup match weeks at approximately $680 million.

New York alone accounted for $339.2 million, followed by Los Angeles at $77.2 million and Boston at $69.3 million.

The figures are not perfectly comparable. Tourism Economics measured the broader tournament impact, while HVS focused specifically on match weeks. Still, the numbers suggest hotel gains were more modest than expected.

More strikingly, HVS found that the World Cup's effect generally came through higher prices rather than substantially higher occupancy.

Occupancy lagged in seven of the 11 markets in the HVS study. Seattle saw the largest gap, down 6.3 percentage points, while Kansas City and Miami were each 4.6 points lower and Atlanta with 2.6 points. Only Los Angeles, Dallas and San Francisco beat the baseline, while New York was essentially unchanged.

New York And New Jersey Beat Expectations

Tourism Economics projected a $3.3 billion economic impact across New York and New Jersey. Still, its post-event analysis, using the same methodology, calculated $3.5 billion, which is 6% higher than expected.

That included approximately $1.9 billion in direct spending ($653 million on lodging, $346 million on food and beverages and $264 million on retail).

More than 645,000 spectators attended the region's eight matches, while another 626,300 non-local visitors participated in World Cup-related activities.

New York and New Jersey therefore provide one of the clearest examples of the promised tourism boom not only materializing, but exceeding expectations.

Los Angeles Tells A Different Story

A 2024 study had estimated that the tournament would produce around $160 million in additional hotel revenue.

After the World Cup, research manager Stafford Nichols of Beacon Economics told the Los Angeles Times that the increase appeared closer to $100 million, roughly 38% below the earlier forecast.

While it was still a 10% year-over-year increase, Nichols said much of the improvement appeared to result from hotels raising rates rather than filling substantially more rooms.

HVS similarly estimated that Los Angeles would generate $77.2 million in incremental room revenue specifically during its World Cup match weeks.

The Broader U.S. Tourism Boom Is Harder To Find

Perhaps the bigger question is whether the World Cup delivered the international tourism rebound predicted before the tournament.

Tourism Economics had forecast 1.24 million international World Cup visitors to the U.S., including 742,000 incremental trips that otherwise would not have taken place.

Yet the latest U.S. Travel data show overseas arrivals were 7% lower in July than a year earlier and 4.7% lower year-to-date. All in all, July travel spending did climb 5.8% to $122.8 billion.

U.S. Travel notes that rising room demand alongside declining overseas arrivals suggests domestic travelers accounted for much of the increase.

While the World Cup clearly created lucrative pockets of demand in New York and New Jersey, early evidence suggests that there was no single nationwide tourism boom.