2021 Annual Report
Economic Impact
- Direct spending by domestic and international visitors totaled $10.0 billion in Calendar Year (CY) 2020
- Visitor expenditures supported 102,100 jobs in 2020 and $4.3 billion in wages and salaries
- Visitor expenditures generated $879.9 million in Massachusetts state and local tax revenue in 2020
- Each dollar spent by a visitor in 2020 generated 5.7 cents in state tax receipts and 3.1 cents in local taxes
- State hotel room occupancy tax collections totaled $124.2 million and local option room occupancy tax collections totaled $108.8 million in FY2021
- Domestic visitors accounted for approximately 93% of all visitor spending. International visitor spending accounted for approximately 7%
Domestic & International Visitors
- In Fiscal Year (FY) 2020, 56.3% of all domestic person trips originated in New England, and 21.2% from the mid-Atlantic states (NY, NJ, and PA
- Visiting friends and relatives is the most frequently reported primary trip purpose (47.7%)
- Travel by personal car is the dominant mode of transportation (71.7%)
- 47.6% of the domestic visitors who spent at least one night in Massachusetts reported staying in a hotel, motel, or bed and breakfast
- In FY2020, Massachusetts hosted 26.2 million domestic visitors
- In Calendar Year 2019, Massachusetts hosted 2.4 million international visitors
Report Data
Data in this report are the most current available and reported on a calendar-year basis, unless otherwise specified. Data are based on all travel – domestic and international, leisure and business, unless otherwise specified. A visitor is defined as someone who travels at least 50 miles one way or stays overnight in paid accommodations.
Impact of COVID-19 on Reported Data
The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic which began in March 2020 disrupted global and domestic travel and impacted the organizations which monitor those activities. The collection and reporting of related travel data was curtailed by many public and private entities. As a consequence, the data provided in this report contains the latest annual pre-pandemic reporting available for each specific category.
Note on International Results
The basis for estimating international traveler volume to the United States and Massachusetts is the U.S. Department of Commerce I-94 survey program. The U.S. Department of Commerce has revised its international volume and spending estimates for calendar years prior to 2019. Accordingly, all international volume and spending values in this report include the revised estimates.
Economic Impact Of Tourism
Economic-impact analysis estimates the scope of the travel industry in the state’s economy. Measuring the economic impact of this industry is complex for two reasons. First, the travel industry is highly disaggregated, as a number of industries provide goods and services to travelers. Second, industries serving travelers also serve residents and non-travel related businesses. MOTT’s economic-impact study estimates the impact of traveler expenditures across many industries. The study also isolates travel-generated impacts from impacts driven by travelers and the industry that serves them. For purposes of these reports a traveler is defined as a person who travels 50 or more miles one way to a destination or who stays overnight.
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