The myth of the 2026 World Cup hotel and tourism ‘boom’

FIFA got here to North America years in the past promising that the 2026 World Cup would carry thousands and thousands of guests and billions of {dollars}. “The world will be invading Canada, Mexico and the United States [with] a big wave of joy and happiness,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino stated in 2022 as 16 host cities were selected. In anticipation, motels in these cities hiked their summer 2026 prices and ready to capitalize on the deluge.

But with two months to go, the long-promised World Cup increase hasn’t but materialized. Some in the US tourism {industry} fear that it’ll transform little greater than a modest bump.

“It is not the cornucopia that FIFA talked about,” Vijay Dandapani, president and CEO of the Hotel Association of New York City, advised TheAthletic.

Chris Nassetta, longtime president and CEO of Hilton Hotels & Resorts, admitted at a convention in Washington, DC, final week that “the World Cup, at this point, doesn’t look as strong as what we had hoped.”

Others stay bullish and count on journey bookings to choose up over the coming month. “We’re really not ready to pull the fire alarm yet,” Erik Hansen, the US Travel Association’s head of authorities relations, advised TheAthletic.

Rosanna Maietta, president and CEO of the American Hotel and Lodging Association, added: “The industry, for sure, is still expecting to see a bump from those two months.”

She acknowledged, although, that “a lot of our members are reporting that bookings are below their projections.”

Many have re-calibrated expectations. And throughout the 16 host cities, most motels have walked again their pricing surge.

In the aftermath of the World Cup draw and schedule reveal in December, TheAthletic analyzed hotel prices in the 16 markets. The 96 motels in our pattern have been, on common, charging $1,013 per night time round the opening match of their respective cities, in contrast with $293 for an equal keep in late-May, precisely three weeks earlier. The common enhance was 328%.

The extent of the surge various from metropolis to metropolis, however touched each market and cohost nation. In the US, the common per-night value rose from $315 in late May to $1,028 throughout the first week of the match.

Four months later, at the identical motels, costs for those self same June dates have fallen greater than 40% from their earlier peak.

They stay considerably greater than May costs, however throughout 63 of the 66 US motels in the pattern, the common price final week was $579 per night time round opening World Cup matches, down from $1,034 4 months in the past. (Three motels have been faraway from the pattern as a result of charges have been now not obtainable on the Marriott and Hilton apps, from which the information was sourced, when this follow-up evaluation was performed final week.)

The comparatively steep decline aligns with industry-wide information and feedback from executives and analysts.

“We are re-adjusting based on the market,” Maietta stated.

Nearly everybody interviewed for this story stated they count on bookings to speed up between now and the begin of the World Cup, and even throughout the match, which kicks off June 11 and concludes July 19. “I am still anticipating a banner summer,” Ed Grose, president and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association, advised TheAthletic.

But the “soft bookings,” as Maeitta put it, are fueling some concern that this World Cup will not entice as many guests as first thought.

The posited causes vary from a broader US tourism slump to ticket prices which have discouraged international followers, plus prices — together with the hotel costs themselves — which have made a World Cup journey unaffordable for the overwhelming majority of the world.

Reasoning for unmet expectations

When FIFA final yr launched a “Socieconomic Impact Analysis” report and boasted that the World Cup “could help drive up to $40.9 billion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP)” in the US, its evaluation included an assumption that “40% of the total stadium attendance [would] consist of foreign tourists.”

If so, greater than 2.5 million seats at the World Cup’s 104 matches can be stuffed by foreigners. Separately, officers speculated that the quantity could possibly be round 3 million. And concurrently, they promised that thousands and thousands extra followers would come from far with out tickets to participate in World Cup-adjacent festivities. Infantino stated final week that there can be “tens of millions from all over the world coming to the US just to feel the vibe.”

With two months to go, nevertheless, bookings and ticket gross sales recommend that the World Cup, as a vacationer attraction, would possibly fall quick of these expectations.

According to April 6 information offered to TheAthletic by CoStar, an actual property and hospitality information agency, the proportion of obtainable hotel rooms already booked for matchdays in 9 of the 11 US host cities was roughly equal to the proportion of rooms booked for the identical June and July dates at the identical level final yr.

In these 9 cities, excluding Philadelphia and Kansas City, bookings have been up 0.8 p.c on common. On group-stage dates, the uptick was barely greater (1.3 p.c). Including the two Canadian host cities, Vancouver and Toronto, nevertheless, there have been comparatively fewer bookings this yr in comparison with final.

Cities that are not sometimes summer time vacationer locations, equivalent to Dallas and Miami, have seen important upticks, particularly on the nights of in style matches, together with England vs. Croatia and Scotland vs. Brazil.

Colombia vs. Portugal is one other Miami instance. Those matches “are going to bring a higher demand than maybe some of those earlier games, like Saudi Arabia, Cape Verde,” James D’Agostino, a basic supervisor at Gale Hotels in Miami, advised TheAthletic.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal are anticipated to be a giant draw for touring followers at this summer time’s World Cup (Patricia De Melo Moreira / AFP / Getty Images)

But for motels in different cities that may welcome thousands and thousands of vacationers even with out the World Cup, equivalent to New York or San Francisco, the match has not but had a noticeable affect.

“The pace, unfortunately, is the same as what it was last year,” Dandapani, the New York City hotel affiliation government, stated.

Alex Bastian, who leads the Hotel Council of San Francisco, stated that in the Bay Area, “many of the hotels adopted conservative budgeting and forecasting strategies” based mostly on previous World Cups — and then based mostly on the 2026 match schedule announcement in December.

Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., close to San Francisco, is the only of the 11 US stadiums that won’t host a single top seed. “If Germany was at play or France was at play,” Bastian stated, “that would be a different impact than, for example, a team like Switzerland, or a team like, I don’t know, Jordan.”

Even in cities that acquired stronger attracts, the share of worldwide ticket consumers appears to be falling quick of the 40-50 p.c projection. Noelle LeVeaux, the Dallas host committee’s chief advertising officer, said recently that about 26-35 p.c of tickets are being bought by worldwide clients. FIFA information distributed to the Los Angeles host committee and seen by TheAthletic means that, equally, lower than a 3rd of the followers at LA’s matches may be coming from overseas.

Dandapani stated that FIFA’s pricing of tickets “at a really extraordinarily high level compared to” the 2022 Qatar World Cup had deterred vacationers. He has additionally cited in style “headwinds,” equivalent to strict visa insurance policies, which have “put a chill” on worldwide journey to the United States.

President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda and rhetoric has additionally fueled widespread perceptions that the nation is unwelcoming. Throughout 2025, the first yr of Trump’s second time period, “US visitor numbers declined 5.5% against 2024,” according to the World Travel and Tourism Councilat the same time as the journey and tourism sector skilled its “best year ever” globally.

The World Cup had been amongst the causes that {industry} analysts anticipated the US to rebound in 2026. Tourism Economics, a worldwide journey information firm, initially projected a 3.9% enhance in arrivals all through the calendar yr. But not too long ago, citing the “Middle East conflict” and its financial penalties, the agency downgraded its projection to “a moderate 3.4% gain.”

Aran Ryan, the firm’s director of {industry} research, advised TheAthletic by way of electronic mail: “We estimate World Cup attendees will increase growth in US arrivals this year by about 0.8 to 1.3 percentage points… equivalent to about 742,000 incremental visitors during the tournament.”

A view outdoors the Marriott Marquis hotel in midtown New York City (Zamek / VIEWpress)

‘Artificial early demand’

Pricing, in the meantime, was muddled by FIFA hotel blocks. The international soccer governing physique, which owns and runs the World Cup, booked lots of or hundreds of rooms in every host metropolis. Then, like many conventions and different occasion organizers, it exercised its contractual choice to cancel some of these reservations earlier this yr.

“FIFA’s room block overcommitment,” Maietta defined, “created artificial early demand.” Its opt-out then modified the supply-and-demand equation. Hotels out of the blue had extra rooms to promote, whereas potential guests have been maybe not as quite a few as anticipated.

So, all through 2026, they’ve adjusted costs accordingly.

The steepest decline in our pattern — which serves as a tough approximation of the market, removed from an actual measure — occurred in Atlanta, the place common costs from June 14-16 at the six randomly chosen vacationer motels fell from $968 in December to $390 in April. (Atlanta’s slate of group-stage matches is arguably the second-most underwhelming of the 11 US host cities, higher than solely the Bay Area.)

Boston, Philadelphia and Seattle additionally noticed costs minimize by round 50%.

The most modest decline was in Dallas, the place the common of $1,039 recorded in December has fallen to a still-high $773 round the first match at AT&T Stadium in close by Arlington, between the Netherlands and Japan. (England vs. Croatia is three days later.)

The big video board at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, dons World Cup branding in anticipation of a quantity of key World Cup matches at the venue (Jerome Miron / Imagn Images)

Other entities, in the meantime, have been including to the whole value of a World Cup journey. On prime of motels and tickets (whose costs FIFA raised again this month), transit businesses in New Jersey and Massachusetts have introduced that matchday trains will cost $150 and $80respectively. Alternatively, FIFA is charging over $100 for parking at most or all matches.

“If they’re nickel-and-dimed every which way along that travel journey,” Maietta stated of followers, “it makes it really hard for them to want to come out with, say, a family, or spend that extra night at a hotel. … It all adds up.”

Optimists inside the tourism {industry} observe that the World Cup’s knockout rounds, which signify 31% of matches and the highest stakes, don’t lend themselves to superior journey planning. Many followers, they consider, will guide at the very final minute if their staff wins and progresses from one stage to the subsequent.

There are additionally nonetheless extra tickets to be distributed. FIFA stated Tuesday that it has offered 5 million, and {that a} new batch will probably be made obtainable Wednesday at 11 am ET. (The cumulative capacity of World Cup stadiums throughout the 104 matches is roughly 6.7 million.)

The query is how important the last-minute rush will probably be. No one is anticipating the “tens of millions from all over the world” that Infantino talked about, however the hope is that the World Cup will not less than carry lots of of hundreds to every host metropolis. And even when they’re expats who journey from inside the United States, they are going to nonetheless give the match worldwide aptitude.

“I think it’s too early to tell,” Hansen stated of the final affect. “I think plans are starting to be made now to come to the US Ticket demand has been strong. So I think we’re going to start to see, in the next couple of weeks, how the data’s shaping out.”

Adam Crafton contributed reporting to this story