Tourism has been strong here this year, thanks in part to an expanded Spokane Convention Center that’s attracting new events and larger groups to the downtown area, experts and other observers say. They say they anticipate the looming redevelopment of Riverfront Park also to play a part in planning for future event bookings in the area.

Visit Spokane President and CEO Cheryl Kilday says recent years have seen good growth in visitors overall here, and the organization expects 2016 to be even bigger. 

 “The convention center has made it easier to book larger events, many from new groups,” says Kilday. “The last few years have been pretty steady, with growth of 2 to 3 percent each year. But visitation is up for both business and leisure travel, as is visitor spending.” 

Kilday says early estimates place the total number of visitors for 2015 at a little over 3 million, and the organization anticipates that number to increase by about 3 percent in 2016. 

One of this year’s larger events, the Chinese Lantern Festival, hosted an estimated 18,000 out-of-town visitors, with an estimated economic impact of about $4 million. 

“It was a substantial event, on a scale we haven’t seen here in a while,” says Kilday. She adds that the city hopes to host the event again next year.

Other sizable events planned for 2016 include figure skating’s Team Challenge Cup competition, and conferences planned by the Bureau of Land Management, Christian and Missionary Alliance, Executive Women International, and the Health and Physics Society, she says.

Dean Feldmeier, general manager for the DoubleTree by Hilton Spokane City Center, which connects via skybridge to the convention center, says the hotel expects continued strong performance in 2016, with events such as Hoopfest and the Pacific Northwest Volleyball Qualifier, among others, helping to boost hotel occupancy.

“2015 was definitely an improvement over 2014, and we have every reason to believe next year will be equally good,” says Feldmeier.

He adds, “The convention center, the work done on the Centennial Trail, and the planned updates to Riverfront Park are all pieces of a puzzle coming together to make the downtown area a really beautiful place to visit.”

On the sports tourism side, Eric Sawyer, president and CEO of Spokane Sports Commission, says that in 2015 the organization generated 57,000 hotel stays, and was involved with 64 events, which generated about $44 million in economic impact to the area. 

Sawyer says the sports industry is somewhat cyclical, with certain events rotating each year. As a result, next year could bring a dip in sports tourism.  

“I could be wrong of course, as we tend to parallel national trends, and nationally sports travel has grown 3 percent in the last three years,” he says. 

Sporting events slated for 2016 include part of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in March, the Pacific Northwest Volleyball Qualifier, and a new annual event, middle school basketball championships.

Katherine Hoyer, manager for the Coeur d’Alene Convention & Visitor Bureau says the organization anticipates 2016 will see a 10 to 15 percent increase in lodging taxes collected. 

“Our fiscal year runs from July to June, and 2015 finished at $65.5 million in lodging tax collected, which is 10 percent ahead of 2014’s $59.6 million for just Kootenai County,” says Hoyer. 

She says so far the numbers for the July-to-October period are already 4 percent ahead of last year’s for the same time period.

—LeAnn Bjerken