Economic Impact Report
2025 Economic Impact Report
Each fall, the Iowa Tourism Office works with a vendor to quantify the economic significance of the tourism sector in Iowa for the previous calendar year. In 2026, the Iowa Tourism Office contracted with Tourism Economics to prepare a comprehensive model detailing the far reaching impacts arising from visitor spending. The results of this study show the scope of the travel sector in terms of direct visitor spending, as well as the total economic impacts, jobs, and fiscal (tax) impacts in the broader economy.
In 2025, visitors spent over $7.6 billion across the Iowa economy. This direct visitor spending impact generated a total economic impact of $11.3 billion in Iowa, sustained 72,196 jobs and generated $1.2 billion in state and local tax revenues in 2025.
County-level numbers are available in Excel format; an updated interactive dashboard will be posted soon.
Additional Economic Data Resources
- Iowa Hotel/Motel Tax Distributions by City
- Iowa Retail Sales Tax Data by 12 Business Groups by County
- Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) (search by county name)
- Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Quarterly Census of Employment & Wages (search by county, MSA or geographic area for Leisure and Hospitality category)
- Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) Outdoor Recreation Data: Iowa Data | All Data
- Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) GDP by State
2024 Tourism Economic Impact Report
In 2024, visitors spent over $7.5 billion across the Iowa economy. This direct visitor spending impact generated a total economic impact of $11.2 billion in Iowa, sustained 71,918 jobs and generated $1.2 billion in state and local tax revenues in 2024.