Charlotte’s visitor spending sets new billion-dollar record, fueled by 5 groups
As the Carolina Panthers snapped a seven-season drought to claim the NFC South title, the Charlotte region may see another tourism spending boost from the team’s home playoff game last Saturday.
Such high-profile events paired with local attractions had a record-breaking economic impact of $1.2 billion for the 2025 fiscal year, according to a new report from the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority.
This milestone marks a 9% increase from the $1.1 billion for the previous fiscal period.
The CRVA’s totals include events associated with the organization. A few of those highlights included the Atlantic Coast Conference football championship game, the Duke’s Mayo Bowl at Bank of America Stadium and the Lovin’ Life Music Fest in uptown.
The Charlotte area welcomed 33 million visitors during the last fiscal period. In Mecklenburg County alone, this influx of visitor spending supported more than 38,000 local jobs.
Here are some of the highlights from CRVA’s 2025 Impact Report:
Economic breakdown of $1.2 billion in tourism dollars
The report highlights how different sectors contributed to the region’s bottom line. Sports and conventions remained the primary engines of growth:
- Leisure events and activities — $640.2 million
- Sports events — $333.5 million
- Conventions and meetings — $102.9 million (with $87.6 million generated by the Charlotte Convention Center)
- NASCAR Hall of Fame —$68.3 million (attracting over 202,000 visitors, more than half of whom traveled from out of town)
- Bojangles Entertainment Complex — $60.8 million (drawing 688,000 attendees, with one in three traveling more than 100 miles)
Booking Charlotte
Marketing efforts resulted in 473,000 total room nights booked across the region, the CRVA reported.
The Charlotte Convention Center played a pivotal role in these figures, accounting for events that resulted in nearly 120,000 of those hotel bookings.
The CRVA also reported that 2.4 million “incremental trips”— visits specifically incentivized by marketing campaigns — generated over $370.1 million in visitor spending and contributed $20 million to local tax revenue.
Charlotte on the big screen
The region’s profile also grew through the film and television industry, which generated $58.3 million in direct spending, a figure included in the CRVA grand total.
Major streaming and broadcast productions filmed in the area included season six of Love is Blind, season 23 of Top Chef, and World Chase Tag on ESPN. On the silver screen, some of the Charlotte hosted productions included “Roofman,” and “God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust.”
The city’s reach also extended into the docuseries genre, with Netflix’s “NASCAR: Full Speed” and HGTV’s “House Hunters.”
More on the CRVA
The CRVA was established by the North Carolina General Assembly through a charter amendment for the city of Charlotte. The authority manages city-owned event spaces and spearheads the promotion of Charlotte as a travel destination.
