Tourism Economy in Tampa

Visit Tampa Bay estimates that visitors to Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, spent $6 billion in 2025 for a total impact of $9.5 billion.

The visitor estimates below are Visit Tampa Bay's own, published for the whole of Hillsborough County by the county's tourism marketing organization. In a June 5, 2026, release, it reported that visitors generated $6 billion in direct spending in 2025 and a total financial impact of $9.5 billion, based on an annual study by Tourism Economics. The same study credited the Hillsborough visitor economy with nearly 62,000 jobs, one in five in the county, and $691 million in state and local taxes, almost $1,200 per resident.

Visitor counts held roughly flat in 2025. Hillsborough County hosted over 28 million visitors, a 0.6 percent decline from 28.2 million in 2024, which Visit Tampa Bay attributed largely to a 10 percent drop in international visitors, particularly from Canada, partly offset by Latin American markets. Spending per visitor rose: day visitors spent $98 each, overnight guests $392, international travelers $934 and domestic visitors $204, and total visitor spending rose 1.2 percent from 2024. Visit Tampa Bay's about page estimates government revenue from tourism at nearly $1.5 billion, saving each county household $1,200.

Hillsborough County hotels took in $1,208,854,234 in taxable revenue in fiscal year 2025, and bed tax collections reached $72,510,663, according to the 2025 Impact Guide on the county's Tourist Development Council page.

The 2025 Impact Guide Report, posted under Documents on the Hillsborough County Tourist Development Council page and crediting Hillsborough County Government among its sources, lists fiscal year 2025 hotel taxable revenue of $1,208,854,234, up from $539 million in FY15, and bed tax collections of $72,510,663, up from $26.8 million in FY15. The same guide shows $32,824,964 of FY25 tourist development tax going to Visit Tampa Bay, and splits the tax as 42 percent Visit Tampa Bay, 24 percent Raymond James Stadium and Benchmark International Arena, 15 percent facilities and venues, 5 percent reserves and smaller shares for corporate marketing, the sports commission, film, festivals, administration and other economic development.

The tax itself is set out by the Hillsborough County Tax Collector: a 6% tax on short-term rentals of living quarters or accommodations for 6 months or less, collected from guests by owners, managers and operators, remitted to the Tax Collector, due on the 1st of the month after collection and delinquent if not paid or postmarked by the 20th.

The county explains the purpose of the tax on its Tourist Development Tax Funding page: events and projects are selected for TDT funding when they generate overnight lodging stays that raise local tax receipts, and the Tourist Development Council takes the lead on the TDT. The page was last modified August 12, 2025. That money also pays for tourism marketing: Visit Tampa Bay, a not-for-profit 501(c)(6) corporation accredited under the Destination Marketing Accreditation Program, says it is supported in part by Tourism Development Collections gathered from overnight visitors in Hillsborough County, which fund its marketing, advertising, partnership and visitor service work from offices at One Tampa City Center, 201 North Franklin Street, Suite 2900, phone (813) 223-1111, with a visitors center in Suite 102 of the same building.

Visit Tampa Bay says it spent its share on three seasonal campaigns in fiscal year 2025, according to its October 2025 release. Ready to Play pushed national and international media after weather-related events in fall 2024, Time to Play targeted the drive markets of Atlanta, Orlando and Miami-Fort Lauderdale, and Doggone Summer marketed Tampa to travelers with pets. The organization also runs Meeting the Moment, a program recognizing convention groups for community engagement, sustainability and social impact in Tampa Bay; since November 2024 it has honored 32 organizations, 19 of them for Community Engagement Excellence and 12 as Sustainability Champions.

The Tampa Convention Center is a 600,000 square foot venue on the Riverwalk that the City of Tampa owns and operates.

The Tampa Convention Center is the city's own tourism business. The center is owned and operated by the City of Tampa and overseen by Mayor Jane Castor and the city's Administrator for Economic Opportunity, and its mission statement is to be a major economic impact for Tampa and the surrounding region. The city's Convention Center and Tourism Department, led by director David Ingram at 333 South Franklin Street, phone 813-274-8511, is described as responsible for generating economic impact through operating the building on the Tampa Riverwalk.

The center publishes its own size figures. The center's home page lists 600,000 square feet of flexible event space, a 200,000-square-foot exhibit space, a 36,000-square-foot ballroom and 50 breakout rooms, and the facility page gives a guest capacity of 17,000 across four floors and 16 minutes from the airport, with a second floor skywalk to the Embassy Suites hotel. Booking support comes from outside City Hall: the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners, the Hillsborough County Hotel and Motel Association, Visit Tampa Bay and the Tampa Bay Sports Commission all work to bring events to the Tampa building.

The center finished its largest renovation in 2023. According to its capital improvement page, the approximately $44.5 million plan added an 18,000-square-foot, two-level waterfront addition with 18 new meeting rooms overlooking the Hillsborough River, upgraded 15 restrooms, renovated meeting rooms and ballrooms, and reworked The Sail Plaza with Big Ray's Fish Camp restaurant. The awards page lists LEED Silver O+M certification from the U.S. Green Building Council in March 2025.

The City of Tampa says the convention center hosted more than 320,000 attendees in 2026 and generated an estimated $149 million in local economic impact.

The City of Tampa has put a figure on the 2026 season. In an October 7, 2026, announcement, the City of Tampa said the Tampa Convention Center was wrapping up a banner year in 2026, hosting more than 320,000 attendees and generating an estimated $149 million in local economic impact. The same release reported that the center won Gold for Best Convention Center in the Southeast U.S. from the Northstar Stella Awards for the fourth consecutive year, and the center's awards page adds a July 2026 Venue Excellence Award from the International Association of Venue Managers.

Conventions also fill Tampa hotel rooms beyond the center itself. Visit Tampa Bay reported that in fiscal year 2025 Tampa Bay hosted more than 540 events with attendees from around the world, including the Association of Zoos and Aquariums annual meeting, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the American Legion and SOF Week, producing more than 580,000 room nights and an estimated $366 million in economic impact. In its 2026 release, Visit Tampa Bay chief executive Santiago C. Corrada said sales work with the Tampa Convention Center, hoteliers and other venues had produced over 600,000 convention attendees per year.

The convention center rents public boat slips for Gasparilla and passes unused convention goods to Hillsborough County schools and charities.

The center's marina ties it to Gasparilla. For the Gasparilla invasion scheduled for January 30, 2027, the Tampa Convention Center will rent a limited number of public boat slips from January 29 through January 31, assigned by a waitlist lottery held at The Sail Plaza on November 5, 2026. Applicants must be present from 8 a.m. that day to get a ticket. Rates are $4 per foot with a $160 daily minimum plus tax for at least three days, plus a one-time $160 security fee per vessel, and slips are 40 feet long and 20 feet wide, with a 65 foot maximum and exceptions for sanctioned Ye Mystic Krewe vessels. The same page still refers to wristband pickup before January 30, 2026, a date left over from the previous invasion, so boaters should confirm pickup timing with the marina.

Leftovers from conventions stay in Hillsborough County. The center's community programs send unused office supplies and show bags to the Hillsborough Education Foundation's Teaching Tools Resource Center for teachers at Title I schools, route building materials and furniture to the Habitat for Humanity Hillsborough ReStore, and donate safe unused food through its caterer Aramark. As a City of Tampa department, the center also takes part in the city's United Way Suncoast partnership, which the center's page says has given nearly $5 million over more than 30 years.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, against two Visit Tampa Bay releases and its about page, the Hillsborough County tourist development tax page, the Tampa Convention Center site and the City of Tampa convention center, awards, upgrades, docking and news pages.