Did the World Cup Live Up to Tourism Expectations? Here Are the Winners and Losers.
New York Times · LC · trust 56/100
FIFA originally projected a global economic impact of $80 billion from the 2026 World Cup. Credit... Julia Demaree Nikhinson/Associated Press Skip to content Skip to site index
Host cities, hotels, tourism boards and more had lofty expectations for the World Cup, but some struck gold, while some fizzled. Here’s the breakdown.
FIFA originally projected a global economic impact of $80 billion from the 2026 World Cup. Credit... Julia Demaree Nikhinson/Associated Press
This year’s World Cup has two clear winners: Spain and FIFA.
The jubilant Spanish team took turns hoisting the sculptural 18-karat-gold trophy after defeating Argentina to win it all last Sunday. Spain will defend its title on home turf as a host of the 2030 World Cup.
And FIFA, the global soccer governing body, appears likely to have amassed record revenues of billions of dollars from this year’s tournament, the largest and longest in the World Cup’s 96-year history.
Spain, which beat Argentina on July 19 in a packed MetLife Stadium, will be a host of the 2030 World Cup. Credit... Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times But from a travel perspective, who else benefited from the tournament?
The three host nations — the United States, Canada and Mexico — all hoped to capitalize on what FIFA had pitched as an unprecedented tourism moment akin to 104 Super Bowls in a single month, with a global economic impact of $80 billion . In the tournament’s final days, Gianni Infantino, FIFA’s president, reiterated this grand sentiment in a statement calling the tournament the “most incredible event in human history.”
Did that tourism and economic windfall materialize? We rolled back the footage, reviewing hotel and short-term rental data, international visitor arrivals, flight bookings and spending data to create a list of winners and losers — and one draw.
Private charter companies said that they were fielding many requests related to the World Cup, and noted increased overseas arrivals related to the matches. Rob Wiesenthal, the founder and chief executive of Blade , an aviation company best known for its helicopter service, said the tournament resulted in the “largest sustained volume that we’ve experienced due to a sporting event.”
Overall, prices were up, but occupancy was mixed across the 16 host cities.
Note: Occupancy change compares average match day occupancy against the June–July 2025 average for each host city. Daily rate change compares average daily room rates for match days against the corresponding days in 2025. Data does not include the July 19 final.
These are the top 12 World Cup-qualifying countries with the most tourists visiting the U.S. in June. The percentage change in the number of visitors is compared with June 2025.
Source: National Travel and Tourism Office.
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