Fort Worth tourism generated $3 billion last year with more than 10 million visitors

Fort Worth saw 10.8 million visitors in 2022 with tourism generating more than $3 billion, the highest amount of economic impact from hospitality the city has ever seen.

Visit Fort Worth shared the figures Friday during its annual meeting attended by more than 950 civic and business leaders. President and CEO Bob Jameson discussed the powerful economic engine that is tourism, record-breaking visitor rates and the soaring economic impact on Fort Worth.

Last year, visitors directly spent more than $105 million during their stay, a 25% increase compared to the previous year, Jameson said. The economic impact also included $125 million in local tax revenues, meaning without tourism the average homeowner would have to pay an additional $700 in property taxes each year, Jameson said. Tourism also provides more than 30,000 hospitality jobs in the city.

“Hospitality is a selfless act,” Jameson said. “It calls for a servant’s heart, and we witness it every day. It’s also the people who make our city more vibrant: the athletes, the artists, the musicians, chefs, filmmakers and the innovators with strong vision who can see the future forever.”

With the announcement of plans to double the size of the Fort Worth Convention Center, convention attendance rose 36% last year and is forecast to grow further as interest in future bookings jumped 85%, according to Visit Fort Worth.

The 10th annual Visit Fort Worth meeting brought together a wide range of people and organizations with a hand in tourism and hospitality, including American Airlines, DFW airport, Fort Worth Botanic Garden, Kimbell Art Museum, Reata restaurant, Professional Bull Riders, Chef Tim Love, the Fort Worth Herd and others.

CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Mo Rocca gave the event’s keynote speech. He praised the city’s strong personality, historic roots and transformation from a small “cowtown” into a cosmopolis of cows, culture, chivalry, stockyards, industry and aviation.

Fort Worth staple restaurant Joe T. Garcia’s won the 2023 Hospitality Award for its mix of popular Mexican food and Southern hospitality. The award celebrated the legacy of restaurant namesake Joe and his wife, affectionately nicknamed Mamasuez, who immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico in 1911 and opened their restaurant 24 years later on the Fourth of July.

Brechelle Larkins, who works at the front desk of Springhill Suites Stockyards, won the 2023 Beyond Award and was recognized for going above and beyond meeting the needs of hotel guests.

Part of tourism’s economic impact can be attributed to the 66 sports events hosted here, including the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships, AAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships, Professional Bull Riders World Finals, Rocket League World Championships, Women’s Tennis Finals and NCAA Men’s Basketball first and second rounds of March Madness. The number of sports events is expected to increase to 75 this year.

Fort Worth is home to 18% of the Metroplex’s hotels, Visit Fort Worth said, and that number could soon go up. At least four new hotels around the city center are coming in 2023, which will also contribute to Fort Worth’s thriving hospitality scene.

The four-story Bowie House Hotel will bring 106 hotel rooms and seven townhomes to the corner of Camp Bowie Boulevard and Dorothy Lane. Formerly the Hotel Texas Annex, Le Méredien will be 13 stories with 189 rooms on Commerce Street adjacent to the Hilton Fort Worth.

The Crescent Fort Worth will feature 200 luxury hotel rooms, 167 apartment units and 170,000 square feet of office space in the Cultural District across from the Kimbell Art Museum. The Sandman Signature Hotel will transform the historic W.T. Waggoner Building at 810 Houston St. into a 245-room hotel.