NC stays 5th most-visited state, sets new spending record

North Carolina saw its 40 million-plus visitors in 2024 spend more than $36.7 billion on trips to and within the “Tar Heel State,” maintaining its rank of fifth most visited state and setting a spending record.

Coming in behind California, Florida, Texas and New York in domestic visitation, the state has been in tight competition with Pennsylvania and Tennessee for fifth place over the last four years. The previous spending record of $35.6 billion was set in 2023, according to Gov. Josh Stein’s office.

The governor made the announcement Wednesday, coinciding with National Travel and Tourism Week May 4-10. The press release notes that the state’s tourism economy remained strong despite Hurricane Helene, which caused untold destruction in the western part of the state in the fall of 2024.

“Today’s news underscores what we all know: North Carolina is a fantastic place to visit,” Stein said Wednesday in a statement. “As our mountain economies worked to recover from Helene, our Piedmont and coastal destinations remained popular and contributed to the growth of North Carolina’s tourism economy. We must continue to support tourism and small businesses in western North Carolina to help them come back stronger.”

The figures are preliminary findings from research commissioned by Visit North Carolina, part of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, and conducted by Tourism Economics. The study can be found on the state tourism’s website, which links to archived reports dating back to 2005.

The state’s tourism-supported workforce increased 1.4% to 230,338 jobs in 2024.  Tourism payroll increased 2.6% to $9.5 billion. As a result of visitor spending, state and local governments saw rebounds in tax revenues to nearly $2.7 billion.   

“North Carolinians in all 100 counties benefit from the money that visitors spend. From our smallest towns to our largest cities, tourism means jobs for more than 50,000 small businesses and our first-in-talent workforce. These workers address travelers’ needs for transportation as well as lodging, dining, shopping, and recreation,” Commerce Secretary Lee Lilley said in the release.

The statistics published Wednesday report data from a statewide perspective. A supplemental report is expected to be released later in the year that will provide regional and local visitor data, offering a better perspective on Helene’s impact on western North Carolina’s tourism economy, officials explained.

The governor’s office provided the following numbers about the 2024 tourism industry:

• Total spending by domestic and international visitors reached $36.7 billion in 2024, a 3.1% increase over 2023 expenditures.   
• Domestic travelers spent a record $35.6 billion in 2024, up 2.7% from $34.6 billion in 2023.   
• The more than 900,000 international travelers spent $1.2 billion in 2024, up 16.5% from the previous year.   
• Visitors generated nearly $4.6 billion in federal, state and local taxes in 2024, a 2.9% increase from 2023.   
• State tax receipts from visitor spending rose 1.1% to nearly $1.4 billion in 2024.   
• Local tax receipts grew 4.3% to nearly $1.3 billion.  
• Direct tourism employment in North Carolina increased 1.4% to 230,338.   
• Direct tourism payroll increased 2.6% to $9.5 billion.   
• Visitors spend more than $100 million per day in the state, adding $7.3 million daily to state and local tax revenues, about $3.7 million in state taxes and $3.6 million in local taxes.
• Each state household saved $593 on average in state and local taxes as a direct result of visitor spending in the state. Savings per capita averaged $241.