Tourism generated $572.5M for Thurston County in 2024

Tourism spending in Thurston County generated $572.5 million in 2024, while 3.39 million visitors traveled more than 50 miles to get to the region, data showed.

Experience Olympia & Beyond reported the total spending at a Lacey City Council work session on Tuesday, Oct. 14.  

According to Experience Olympia’s Tourism Economics 2024 data, visitor spending supported 4,076 direct jobs and produced $56.7 million in state and local tax revenue. 

Spending breakdown

• 30.4% in food and beverage ($174.3 million)

• 20.7% in retail ($118.7 million)

• 17.4% in recreation ($99.5 million)

• 15.9% in lodging ($90.9 million)

• 15.6% in transport ($89.2 million covering both local and air travel). 

Director of Marketing and Community Engagement Emily Brooks said overnight tourism produced the largest fiscal impact. Overnight guests represented 41.2% of total visitation, but generated 70.7% of the county’s overall visitor spending. 

“The effect of tourism, specifically overnight tourism, has a huge impact on our community,” she stated. 

Brooks said tourism “brings in new money to the area” that circulates beyond hotels into restaurants, retail and public services. She said the expenditures reinforce “quality of life, sense of place, essential community services and jobs in the area.” 

Meanwhile, Experience Olympia’s Sentiment Visitor Survey 2025 and Datafy 2024 results revealed the typical visitor to Lacey traveled in a group of 2.7 people and stayed an average of 2.6 days. About 76.6% came for leisure, 10.4% for business and 13% for blended “bleisure” (business-leisure) purposes. 

Main origin markets include Seattle, Vancouver, Portland, Everett and Bothell. Survey results recorded 80% positive and 10% neutral impressions of Thurston County, with 88.6% of visitors likely to return. 

Travel inspiration ranked search engine websites at 51.6%, online articles and blogs 45.2% and official visitor guides 33.9% as key sources.  

Dining ranked first among experiences, followed by shopping and scenic recreation. Visitors noted enjoying nature 85.7%, road trips 75.3%, seasonal travel 64.2% and budget travel 62.8% as main travel goals.  

Brooks said such data steers Experience Olympia’s advertising toward markets located 50 miles or more from the county. Experience Olympia has an annual budget of about $1.4 and employs four people.

Marketing reach, media exposure 

In terms of marketing return, Brooks said digital programmatic advertising is the most cost-efficient tool for drawing visitors to Thurston County. 

“For every $1 we spend, we see nearly $239 in return visitor spending,” she said. 

Campaigns under “Discover Summer” in Thurston County and an advertisement series at Seattle–Tacoma International Airport run through December under a partnership with the Port of Seattle. 

Experience Olympia’s partnership with the Washington Tourism Bureau secured a full-page ad in the state’s visitor guide at one-fourth of its rack price.

Its visitor newsletter, with 15,000 subscribers, circulates monthly to opt-in readers, while the resident newsletter reaches a few thousand more through ZIP code targeting. 

The group’s publicity arm gained a placement for the Lacey Spring Fun Fair in “ParentMap” magazine. The Lacey Community Guide, produced with city staff, has a print run of 60,000 and is online at ExperienceLacey.com. 

The website, Brooks said, attracts about 400,000 unique visitors per year and remains a key reference as online algorithms evolve.