.svg)
Gap Inc. is showing real signs of progress in its turnaround efforts. Since CEO Richard Dickson took the helm in August 2023, the company has been working to revitalize its portfolio of brands – and the latest foot traffic data confirms that strategy is beginning to deliver results.
In Q2 2025, visits to the company’s four banners—Old Navy, Gap, Athleta, and Banana Republic—rose 3.6% year over year (YoY), outperforming the broader apparel category (excluding department stores and off-price retailers), which saw traffic decline 2.2%.
Focusing on the company’s two largest and strongest performers, Old Navy led with a 4.8% increase in overall foot traffic and a 4.5% gain in same-store visits. The namesake Gap brand also posted growth despite a smaller U.S. store base. Notably, overall visits to Gap slightly outpaced same-store sales, signaling that store closures are effectively removing underperformers, while new locations are resonating with shoppers.
Turning to monthly foot traffic trends, both Old Navy and Gap posted significant year-over-year visit gains in April and May 2025 before seeing visitation taper in June and July.
The two chains’ springtime surge may be partially attributed to tariff pull-forward. Following the announcement of new tariffs in early April, many consumers appear to have accelerated purchases to avoid anticipated price increases. This pull-forward effect likely shifted demand into April and May, inflating growth in the short term but contributing to softer traffic in June and July. Memorial Day sales and campaigns like the company’s “Feels Like Gap” campaign may have also resonated with consumers.
Another encouraging sign for the company lies in the shifting income profiles of visitors to its flagship brands.
As illustrated in the chart, the median household incomes (HHIs) of both Gap and Old Navy’s captured markets rose in 2022 and 2023. Inflation and higher prices likely pushed lower-income consumers to trade down to alternatives, leaving Gap and Old Navy with relatively more affluent shoppers.
But since 2023 (for Gap) and 2024 (for Old Navy), HHIs in the chains’ trade areas have begun to decline slightly – suggesting the return of middle-income households. This subtle but meaningful shift indicates that revitalization efforts are reconnecting with the company’s historical core audience – middle-income shoppers who value style at an attainable price point.
Gap Inc.’s Q2 2025 performance provides encouraging evidence that its turnaround strategy is taking hold. Yet the company remains at a delicate juncture. Athleta and Banana Republic continue to lag behind their sister brands, and tariffs represent a significant headwind that could weigh on profitability.
Still, there is reason for optimism. If Gap Inc. can maintain its renewed connection with middle-income shoppers, refine its store strategy, and adapt effectively to the shifting tariff landscape, the momentum seen this quarter could help advance a sustained recovery.
Visit Placer.ai/anchor for the latest data-driven retail insights.
After steep mid-single-digit year-over-year declines in late 2024, Best Buy's (BBY) store traffic is beginning to stabilize. The retailer saw same-store visits fall just 1.5% year-over-year (YoY) in Q1 2025, with the decline narrowing further to 1.2% in Q2. Even more encouraging, several months since January have posted flat-to-positive foot traffic growth – a promising trend as Best Buy approaches the all-important holiday season, where it traditionally excels.
Best Buy’s recent traffic improvement likely stems from continued strength in its computing, mobile phone, and tablet offerings – segments with natural upgrade and replacement cycles that many consumers view as essentials. At the same time, foot traffic data indicates that the company’s online channel – which posted a 2.1% increase in U.S. digital sales last quarter – is helping drive quick in-store visits as customers take advantage of fast BOPIS (buy online, pick up in store) options.
As illustrated in the graph below, short-duration visits (under 10 minutes) have consistently outperformed longer ones in 2025, underscoring the role of in-store pickup. In January, short visits jumped 5.3% YoY, likely boosted by Best Buy’s first-ever January Member Deals Days promotion. And in June, short visits increased 4.6% YoY, coinciding with the highly anticipated Nintendo Switch 2 launch, which featured special midnight store openings for eager customers.
While Best Buy trimmed its full-year outlook last quarter and has yet to see a true rebound in store traffic, the narrowing visit gap signals rising consumer engagement. With strengthened omnichannel execution and traffic tailwinds from product launches – as well as the a third-party marketplace set to launch next week – Best Buy may be poised to deliver a strong holiday season ahead.
To see up-to-date retail traffic trends, try Placer.ai's free tools.
The past few years have been challenging for many retail categories, particularly those reliant on discretionary spending. For top athletic retailers like DICK'S Sporting Goods, Academy Sports + Outdoors, and lululemon athletica, this has translated into sustained pressure on physical store visits.
Yet Q2 2025 visit results, when viewed against the backdrop of recent earnings reports, tell a more nuanced story. Rather than succumbing to headwinds, these brands are leveraging strategies from expansion to experiential retail – to weather the storm and position themselves for long-term growth.
DICK’S Sporting Goods provides a case study in mitigating traffic declines through higher ticket sizes, digital acceleration, and a pivot toward destination retail. In Q2 2025, overall visits to the company’s flagship chain declined -5.3% YoY and same-store visits fell -4.5%. Monthly performance was volatile: February and June saw the steepest visit gaps – driven partly by calendar effects (February vs. leap year, June 2025 with one fewer Saturday) and compounded by disruptive weather in both months, from winter storms in February to record heat and flooding in the Northeast in June. Meanwhile, as shown in the graph below, foot traffic in March, May, and July was just below 2024 levels.
Despite these ongoing foot traffic headwinds, DICK'S delivered impressive comp sales last quarter, driven by a 3.7% increase in average ticket size and a 0.8% uptick in total transaction – with e-commerce outpacing overall company growth. The company is also taking proactive steps to shore up its brick-and-mortar appeal, expanding its experiential House of Sport and Field House concepts to make its stores destinations in their own rights. And DICK’s recent Foot Locker acquisition appears to serve the same strategy, leaning into categories where in-person trial and discovery are central to purchase decisions.
Academy Sports + Outdoors also saw same-store visit declines in Q2 2025 (-5.1%), with similar calendar and weather-driven monthly variations. But thanks to strategic fleet expansion, overall quarterly traffic remained relatively stable (-0.9% YoY), with monthly visits even exceeding 2024 levels in May and then again in July.
Online sales (about 10% of the company’s business) also rose 10.2% during the company’s fiscal Q1 (ending May 3rd, 2025), helping offset in-store sales dips and contributing to a 3.7% YoY decline in comps. Academy’s balanced strategy of combining physical expansion with e-commerce strength is enabling the chain to maintain momentum even in a tougher environment.
While Academy widened its guidance range last quarter to reflect macroeconomic risks such as tariff impacts, its continued expansion signals confidence in its long-term trajectory.
Premium athletic retailer lululemon athletica also continues to face consistently lower same-store visits compared to 2024, with overall visits only moderately better.
Like its peers, the brand’s strength lies beyond foot traffic. Growth in direct-to-consumer (DTC) and digital channels paired with higher transaction values allowed lululemon to deliver Americas comps of -2.0% YoY last quarter – a modest decline given traffic headwinds. At the same time, lululemon is expanding its fleet and accelerating international growth, adding further levers for resilience.
Still, the brand’s challenge is clear: to reignite in-store demand by ensuring its locations serve as premium destinations that justify return visits, especially as competition in athleisure intensifies.
Discretionary pullbacks are weighing on athletic retail in 2025. But a closer look at visit data reveals how leading players are adapting.
DICK’S is thriving via ticket growth and digital acceleration, while seeding future trips with its House of Sport/Field House rollout. Academy Sports kept overall visits nearly flat despite a 5.1% same-store traffic dip by leaning into strategic expansion – while also cultivating double-digit online growth. Lululemon has faced the steepest foot traffic drag, but higher transaction values and a bigger DTC mix helped keep domestic (Americas) comps only slightly negative last quarter as the company continues expanding its fleet and growing internationally.
Still, foot traffic remains a critical pillar of long-term growth. Heading into the holiday season, a key test will be whether these retailers can reverse recent visitation trends and draw more consumers back into stores.
Visit Placer.ai/anchor for the latest data-driven retail insights.
Traffic to wholesale clubs is on the rise, with Q2 2025 visits to Costco, BJ's Wholesale Club, and Sam's Club up 3.2%, 5.0%, and 1.6%, respectively, compared to Q2 2024. Same-store visits also increased slightly, with 1.2%, 1.3%, and 1.7% same-store visit growth for Costco, BJ's Wholesale Club, and Sam's Club, respectively.
Last year, Costco and BJ's drove growth through expansion while Sam's Club focused on increasing visits to its existing store fleet. But the Walmart-owned wholesale club is now beginning to expand as well. How might this strategic shift impact traffic to the segment? We dove into the data to find out.
BJ's (BJ) and Costco (COST) are leaning on expansions to drive visit growth, with overall traffic to both chains growing faster than same-store visits, as seen in the chart below. And even with the increased store count, same-store visits to the chains are largely positive – indicating that new stores are not cannibalizing shoppers from existing locations, and that the consumer appetite for membership-based wholesale clubs remains strong.
The companies' traffic growth followed similar trajectories in the first half of 2025: Costco posted slightly stronger numbers in Q1 for both overall and same-store visits, while BJ's outperformed in Q2. July's results reflected this parallel trajectory, with BJ's achieving stronger overall traffic growth (4.7% vs. 3.2%) and Costco seeing better same-store performance (1.9% vs. 1.0%).
While Costco and BJ's expand aggressively, Sam's Club (WMT) has (so far) emphasized store optimization over growth, reflected in the close correlation between overall and same-store visit trends in the chart below. Despite this restrained growth strategy, the Walmart-owned banner has sustained positive year-over-year traffic throughout most of 2025 – demonstrating strong organic growth at existing locations.
Now, the chain appears to be taking a page out of its competitors' expansion strategy book. The company had initiated its strategic pivot in early 2023, with plans to open 30 new stores – but Walmart recently shared plans for a more aggressive expansion of 15 new clubs a year on top of the 30 locations initially announced. With this new strategy, Sam's Club appears to be embracing the expansion-driven growth model that has proven successful for its competitors.
Diving into the visit share distribution between the three analyzed wholesale chains by DMA sheds light on the potential impact of Sam's Club's expansion on the wider wholesale club segment.
Costco and Sam's Club are the larger of the three players: In July 2025, 54.3% of combined visits to the three wholesale clubs went to Costco, and 36.0% went to Sam's Club. (The remaining 9.7% of visits went to BJ's Wholesale Club.)
The maps below shows each chain's regional visit share (by DMA) and highlights the geographic segmentation in the space, which has historically allowed each chain to maintain strong regional footholds with limited direct competition. Costco dominates the West, Sam's Club enjoys the majority visit share in much of the Midwest and South, and BJ's Wholesale Club is popular in the northeast.
But now, as the three chains are expanding beyond their traditional strongholds, the industry may see increased competition for local market share. A new Sam's Club store is slated to open in Arizona where Costco controlled 67.3% of the combined visit share as of July 2025, while a new Costco store recently opened in Texas, where 63.0% of the combined visit share in July 2025 went to Sam's Club. BJ's has also announced plans to expand into Texas and grow its fleet in several other southern states.
As these chains venture beyond their historical strongholds, success will hinge on each operator's ability to adapt their proven regional strategies to new demographics while securing optimal locations before competitors.
For more data-driven retail insights, visit placer.ai/anchor.
Kohl's (KSS) brick-and-mortar stores continue to play in the company's overall business strategy. During the company's first fiscal quarter (ending May 3rd, 2025), in-store comparable sales declined 2.6% year-over-year – aligning closely with the 2.8% same-store visit decline between February and April 2025 – while digital sales fell 7.7%. And while the visit gap has widened slightly since – between May and July 2025, same-store visits declined 3.4% YoY – in-store traffic trends continue to outperform Kohl’s full-year guidance, which anticipated a 4.0% to 6.0% drop in comparable store sales.
The recent softness can be partially attributed to a sector-wide slowdown in June retail traffic, as shoppers who had pulled forward purchases to avoid anticipated tariff-driven price hikes reduced their shopping activity in June. The wider macroeconomic uncertainty also appears to be hitting mid-market discretionary retailers like Kohl's particularly hard, as many middle-income shoppers continue to trade down to value-forward chains and high-income shoppers gravitate to luxury brands.
Macy's (M) reported a 2.0% YoY decline in comparable sales on an owned basis for its first quarter of 2025 (ending May 3rd 2025) – consistent with the 2.2% YoY decline in combined same-store visits at its three major banners (Macy's, Bloomingdale's, and Bluemercury) between February and April 2025.
Like for Kohl's, Macy's same-store visit gap widened in recent months, with combined visits to the three banners down 4.0% YoY between May and July 2025. The company's namesake banner, Macy's, saw the largest traffic declines, while visits to its luxury banners Bloomingdale's and Bluemercury generally increased YoY between May and July 2025. This likely reflects the different economic pressures facing visitors to the Macy's brand: The chain serves a more budget-conscious demographic, with a median household income of $87.7K in H1 2025 in its trade areas, while Bloomingdale's and Bluemercury attract higher-income shoppers with median household incomes of $126.5K and $123.0K, respectively.
This divergence highlights how economic uncertainty is creating a tale of two retails – where luxury resilience and mass market vulnerability are impacting competitive dynamics across Macy's portfolio as well as in the wider retail space.
The softer visit trends at Kohl's and the performance gap between Macy's luxury banners and its namesake brand highlights the challenges faced by mid-market discretionary banners in 2025. As discretionary spending continues to face pressure, retailers serving the middle market may need to adapt their strategies to compete for increasingly budget-conscious consumers.
To see up-to-date department store visit trends, try Placer's free Industry Trends tool.
The home improvement segment continues to face challenges in 2025, but a deeper look into the data for Home Depot and Lowe's reveals a nuanced story of sector-wide headwinds, divergent brand performances, and potential signs of recovery.
Existing-home sales, which can often serve as a powerful indicator for how the home improvement retail sector may behave, are at some of their lowest rates in years. This housing market softness has translated into lowered consumer activity at project-driven stores like The Home Depot. Visits to the home improvement chain were down by -3.9% YoY in Q1 2025 before moderating to a 2.2% decline in Q2.
Monthly visit data offers a more granular view of Home Depot's performance. Despite a sharp YoY decline of 9.2% in February – likely due to inclement weather and the leap year comparison – visits recovered quickly. By July, foot traffic was down by just 2.5% YoY.
These trends point to a cautious stabilization, perhaps driven by shifting economic realities. With home equities up roughly 6% YoY and over half of U.S. homes at least 40 years old, homeowners are undertaking necessary repairs – and Home Depot's status as a contractor hub may help boost visits as economic concerns cool. The company is also leaning into its strengths and driving sales through other channels, such as its B2B offerings, helping position it for growth as market conditions improve.
Lowe's also faced a challenging first half of 2025, with foot traffic trends mirroring the broader home improvement sector's struggles. Quarterly visits declined by 3.7% in Q1 and 3.8% in Q2 on a year-over-year (YoY) basis, reflecting persistent pressure on consumer spending. But visit gaps narrowed by the end of Q2, and by July 2025 were just 1.1% lower than in July 2024.
Like Home Depot, Lowe's was likely impacted by the economic uncertainties and a slower housing market. But unlike Home Depot, Lowe’s still relies on DIYers for the majority of its business. Executives blamed unfavorable weather for pushing back the spring home improvement season, which led to softer DIY performance at Lowe’s in their first fiscal quarter (ending May 2nd 2025) and may have contributed to Lowe's underperformance relative to Home Depot.
Drilling down into regional foot traffic trends for Home Depot and Lowe’s in July reveals that success in the home improvement sector in 2025 is highly localized. Even during the recent challenging period, both chains experienced pockets of YoY visit growth, particularly clustered in parts of the Midwest and Southeast. For Home Depot, traffic trends were strongest in North Dakota, where YoY visits grew by 7.6% – but visit growth was clustered throughout the region. Lowe’s also enjoyed visit growth across several states, with its strongest performance centered in Midwestern states like Indiana (+4.4%) and Kentucky (+2.8%).
These geographic patterns highlight how demand in the home improvement segment shows significant variance by market, with both chains appearing to benefit in areas with steadier home sales. This is a reminder that, while nationwide visits are lower than in previous years, pockets of strong local demand can still provide a significant boost for each brand.
Moving forward, the home improvement segment has plenty of ways to adapt to a softening economic environment and slowing home sales. Will home improvement visits pick up? Or will housing market challenges continue to spill over to foot traffic?
Visit Placer.ai/anchor for the latest data-driven retail insights.
The pandemic and economic headwinds that marked the past few years presented the multi-billion dollar hotel industry with significant challenges. But five years later, the industry is rallying – and some hotel segments are showing significant growth.
This white paper delves into location analytics across six major hotel categories – Luxury Hotels, Upper Upscale Hotels, Upscale Hotels, Upper Midscale Hotels, Midscale Hotels, and Economy Hotels – to explore the current state of the American hospitality market. The report examines changes in guest behavior, personas, and characteristics and looks at factors driving current visitation trends.
Overall, visits to hotels were 4.3% lower in Q2 2024 than in Q2 2019 (pre-pandemic). But this metric only tells part of the story. A deeper dive into the data shows that each hotel tier has been on a more nuanced recovery trajectory.
Economy chains – those offering the most basic accommodations at the lowest prices – saw visits down 24.6% in Q2 2024 compared to pre-pandemic – likely due in part to hotel closures that have plagued the tier in recent years. Though these chains were initially less impacted by the pandemic, they were dealt a significant blow by inflation – and have seen visits decline over the past three years. As hotels that cater to the most price-sensitive guests, these chains are particularly vulnerable to rising costs, and the first to suffer when consumer confidence takes a hit.
Luxury Hotels, on the other hand, have seen accelerated visit growth over the past year – and have succeeded in closing their pre-pandemic visit gap. Upscale chains, too, saw Q2 2024 visits on par with Q2 2019 levels. As tiers that serve wealthier guests with more disposable income, Luxury and Upscale Hotels are continuing to thrive in the face of headwinds.
But it is the Upper Midscale level – a tier that includes brands like Trademark Collection by Wyndham, Fairfield by Marriott, Holiday Inn Express by IHG Hotels & Resorts, and Hampton by Hilton – that has experienced the most robust visit growth compared to pre-pandemic. In Q2 2024, Upper Midscale Hotels drew 3.5% more visits than in Q2 2019. And during last year’s peak season (Q3 2023), Upper Midscale hotels saw the biggest visit boost of any analyzed tier.
As mid-range hotels that still offer a broad range of amenities, Upper Midscale chains strike a balance between indulgence and affordability. And perhaps unsurprisingly, hotel operators have been investing in this tier: In Q4 2023, Upper Midscale Hotels had the highest project count of any tier in the U.S. hotel construction and renovation pipeline.
The shift in favor of Upper Midscale Hotels and away from Economy chains is also evident when analyzing changes in relative visit share among the six hotel categories.
Upper Midscale hotels have always been major players: In H1 2019 they drew 28.7% of overall hotel visits – the most of any tier. But by H1 2024, their share of visits increased to 31.2%. Upscale Hotels – the second-largest tier – also saw their visit share increase, from 24.8% to 26.1%.
Meanwhile, Economy, Midscale, and Upper Upscale Hotels saw drops in visit share – with Economy chains, unsurprisingly, seeing the biggest decline. Luxury Hotels, for their parts, held firmly onto their piece of the pie, drawing 2.8% of visits in H1 2024.
Who are the visitors fueling the Upper Midscale visit revival? This next section explores shifts in visitor demographics to four Upper Midscale chains that are outperforming pre-pandemic visit levels: Trademark Collection by Wyndham, Holiday Inn Express by IHG Hotels & Resorts, Fairfield by Marriott, and Hampton by Hilton.
Analyzing the captured markets* of the four chains with demographics from STI: Popstats (2023) shows variance in the relative affluence of their visitor bases.
Fairfield by Marriott drew visitors from areas with a median household income (HHI) of $84.0K in H1 2024, well above the nationwide average of $76.1K. Hampton by Hilton and Trademark Collection by Wyndham, for their parts, drew guests from areas with respective HHIs of $79.6K and $78.5K – just above the nationwide average. Meanwhile, Holiday Inn Express by IHG Hotels & Resorts drew visitors from areas below the nationwide average.
But all four brands saw increases in the median HHIs of their captured markets over the past five years. This provides a further indication that it is wealthier consumers – those who have had to cut back less in the face of inflation – who are driving hotel recovery in 2024.
(*A chain’s captured market is obtained by weighting each Census Block Group (CBG) in its trade area according to the CBG’s share of visits to the chain – and so reflects the population that actually visits the chain in practice.)
Much of the Upper Midscale visit growth is being driven by chain expansion. But in some areas of the country, the average number of visits to individual hotel locations is also on the rise – highlighting especially robust growth potential.
Analyzing visits to existing Upper Midscale chains in four metropolitan areas with booming tourism industries – Salt Lake City, UT, Palm Bay, FL, San Diego, CA, and Richmond, VA – shows that these markets feature robust untapped demand.
Utah, for example, has emerged as a tourist hotspot in recent years – with millions of visitors flocking each year to local destinations like Salt Lake City to see the sights and take in the great outdoors. And Upper Midscale hotels in the region are reaping the benefits. In H1 2024, the overall number of visits to Upper Midscale chains in Salt Lake City was 69.4% higher than in H1 2019. Though some of this increase can be attributed to local chain expansion, the average number of visits to each individual Upper Midscale location in the area also rose by 12.5% over the same period.
Palm Bay, FL (the Space Coast) – another tourist favorite – is experiencing a similar trend. Between H1 2019 and H1 2024, overall visits to local Upper Midscale hotel chains grew by 36.4% – while the average number of visits per location increased a substantial 16.9%. Given this strong demand, it may come as no surprise that the area is undergoing a hotel construction boom. Upper Midscale hotels in other areas with flourishing tourism sectors, like San Diego, CA and Richmond, VA, are seeing similar trends, with increases in both overall visits and and in the average number of visits per location.
Though Economy chains have underperformed versus other categories in recent years, the tier does feature some bright spots. Some extended-stay brands in the Economy tier – hotels with perks and amenities that cater to the needs of longer-stay travelers – are succeeding despite category headwinds.
Choice Hotels’ portfolio, for example, includes WoodSpring Suites, an Economy chain offering affordable extended-stay accommodations in 35 states. In H1 2024, the chain drew 7.7% more visits than in the first half of 2019 – even as the wider Economy sector continued to languish. InTown Suites, another Economy extended stay chain, saw visits increase by 8.9% over the same period.
And location intelligence shows that the success of these two chains is likely being driven, in part, by their growing appeal to young, well-educated professionals. In H1 2019, households belonging to Spatial.ai: PersonaLive’s “Young Professionals” segment made up 9.6% of WoodSpring Suites’ captured market. But by H1 2024, the share of this group jumped dramatically to 13.3%. At the same time, InTown Suites saw its share of Young Professionals increase from 12.0% to 13.4%.
Whether due to an affinity for prolonged “workcations” (so-called “bleisure” excursions) or an embrace of super-commuting, younger guests have emerged as key drivers of growth for the extended stay segment. And by offering low–cost accommodations that meet the needs of these travelers, Economy chains can continue to grow their share of the pie.
The hospitality industry recovery continues – led by Upper Midscale Hotels, which offer elevated experiences that don’t break the bank. But today’s market has room for other tiers as well. By keeping abreast of local visitation patterns and changing consumer profiles, hotels across chain scales can personalize the visitor experience and drive customer satisfaction.
The past few years have provided the tourism sector with a multitude of headwinds, from pandemic-induced lockdowns to persistent inflation and a rise in extreme weather events. But despite these challenges, people are more excited than ever to travel – more than half of respondents to a recent survey are planning on increasing their travel budgets in the coming months.
And while revenge travel to overseas destinations is still very much alive and well, the often high costs associated with traveling abroad are shaping the way people choose to travel. Domestic travel and tourism are seeing significant growth as more affordable alternatives.
This white paper takes a closer look at two of the most popular domestic tourism destinations in the country – New York City and Los Angeles. Over the past year, both cities have continued to be leading tourism hotspots, offering a wealth of attractions for visitors. What does tourism to these two cities look like in 2024, and what has changed since before the pandemic? How have inflation and rising airfare prices affected the demographics and psychographics of visitors to these major hubs?
Analyzing the distribution of domestic tourists across CBSAs nationwide from May 2023 to April 2024 reveals New York and Los Angeles to be two of the nation’s most popular destinations. (Tourists include overnight visitors staying in a given CBSA for up to 31 days).
The New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA metro area drew the largest share of domestic tourists of any CBSA during the analyzed period (2.7%), followed closely by the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA CBSA (2.5%). Other domestic tourism hotspots included Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL (tied for second place with 2.5% of visitors), Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX (1.9%), Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV (1.8%), Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL (1.8%), and Chicago-Naperville, Elgin, IL-IN-WI (1.6%).
The Big Apple. The City That Never Sleeps. Empire City. Whatever it’s called, New York City remains one of the most well-known tourist destinations in the world. And for many Americans, New York is the perfect place for an extended weekend getaway – or for a multi-day excursion to see the sights.
But where do these NYC-bound vacationers come from? Diving into the data on the origin of visitors making medium-length trips to New York City (three to seven nights) reveals that increasingly, these domestic tourists are coming from nearby metro areas.
Between 2018-2019 and 2023-2024, for example, the number of tourists visiting New York City from the Philadelphia metro area increased by 19.2%.
The number of tourists coming from the Boston and Washington, D.C metro areas, and from the New York CBSA itself (New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA) also increased over the same period.
Meanwhile, further-away CBSAs like San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA, Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Alpharetta, GA, and Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL fed fewer tourists to NYC in 2023-2024 than they did pre-pandemic. It seems that residents of these more distant metro areas are opting for vacation destinations closer to home to avoid the high costs of air travel.
Diving even deeper into the characteristics of visitors taking medium-length trips to New York City reveals another demographic shift: Tourists staying between three and seven nights in the Big Apple are skewing younger.
Between 2018-2019 and 2023-2024, the share of visitors to New York City from areas with median ages under 30 grew from 2.1% to 4.5%. Meanwhile, the share of visitors from areas with median ages between 31 and 40 increased from 34.3% to 37.7%.
The impact of this trend is already being felt in the Big Apple, with The Broadway League reporting that the average age of audiences to its shows during the 2022- 2023 season was the youngest it had been in 20 seasons.
The shift towards younger tourists can also be seen when examining the psychographic makeup of visitors to popular attractions in New York City. Analyzing the captured markets of major NYC landmarks with data from Spatial.ai’s PersonaLive dataset reveals an increase in households belonging to the “Educated Urbanites” segment between 2018-2019 and 2023-2024.
These well-educated, young singles are increasingly visiting iconic NYC venues such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The American Museum of Natural History, and the Statue of Liberty. This shift highlights the growing popularity of these attractions among young, educated singles, reflecting a broader trend of increased domestic tourism among this demographic.
New York City’s tourism sector is adapting to meet the changing needs of travelers, fueled increasingly by younger visitors who may be unable to take a costly international vacation. How have travel patterns to Los Angeles changed in response to increasing travel costs?
While New York City is the East Coast’s tourism hotspot, Los Angeles takes center stage on the West Coast. And as overseas travel has become increasingly out of reach for Americans with less discretionary income, the share of domestic tourists originating from areas with lower HHIs has risen.
Before the pandemic, 57.6% of visitors to LA came from affluent areas with median household incomes (HHIs) of over $90K/year. But by 2023-2024, this share decreased to 50.7%. Over the same period, the share of visitors from areas with median HHIs between $41K and $60K increased from 9.7% to 12.5%, while the share of visitors from areas with HHIs between $61K and $90K rose from 32.1% to 35.8%.
Diving into the psychographic makeup of visitors to popular Los Angeles attractions – Universal Studios Hollywood, Disneyland California, the Santa Monica Pier, and Griffith Observatory – also reflects the above-mentioned shift in HHI. The captured markets of these attractions had higher shares of middle-income households belonging to the “Family Union” psychographic segment in 2023-2024 than in 2018-2019.
Experian: Mosaic defines this segment as “middle income, middle-aged families living in homes supported by solid blue-collar occupations.” Pre-pandemic, 16.0% of visitors to Universal Studios Hollywood came from trade areas with high shares of “Family Union” households. This number jumped to 18.8% over the past year. A similar trend occurred at Disneyland, Santa Monica Pier, and Griffith Observatory.
And like in New York City, growing numbers of visitors to Los Angeles appear to be coming from nearby areas. Between 2018-2019 and 2023-2024, the share of in-state visitors to major Los Angeles attractions increased substantially – as people likely sought to cut costs by keeping things local.
Pre-pandemic, for example, 68.9% of visitors to Universal Studios Hollywood came from within California – a share that increased to 72.0% over the past year. Similarly, 59.7% of Griffith Observatory visitors in 2018-2019 came from within the state – and by 2023-2024, that number grew to 64.7%.
Even when times are tight, people love to travel – and New York and Los Angeles are two of their favorite destinations. With prices for airfare, hotels, and dining out increasing across the board, younger and more price-conscious households are adapting, choosing to visit nearby cities and enjoy attractions closer to home. And as the tourism industry continues its recovery, understanding emerging visitation trends can help stakeholders meet travelers where they are.
The positive retail momentum observed in Q1 2024 continued into Q2 – as stabilizing prices and a strong job market fostered cautious optimism among consumers. Year-over-year (YoY) retail foot traffic remained elevated throughout the quarter, with June in particular seeing significant weekly visit boosts ranging from 4.7% to 8.5%.
The robustness of the retail sector in Q2 was also highlighted by positive visit growth during the quarter’s special calendar occasions, including Mother’s Day (the week of May 6th) and Memorial Day (the week of May 27th). And though consumer spending may moderate as the year wears on, retail’s strong Q2 showing offers plenty of room for optimism ahead of back-to-school sales and other summer milestones.
On a quarterly basis, overall retail visits rose 4.2% in Q2. And diving into specific categories shows that value continued to reign supreme, with discount and dollar stores seeing the most robust YoY visit growth (11.2%) of any analyzed category.
Other essential goods purveyors, such as grocery store chains (7.6%) and superstores (4.6%), also outperformed the overall retail baseline. And fitness – a category deemed essential by many health-conscious consumers – outpaced overall retail with a substantial 6.0% YoY foot traffic increase.
The decidedly more discretionary home improvement industry performed less well than overall retail in Q2 – but in another sign of consumer resilience, it too experienced a YoY visit uptick. And overall restaurant foot traffic increased 2.6% YoY.
Discount and dollar stores enjoyed a strong Q2 2024, maintaining YoY visit growth above 10.0% for six out of the quarter’s 13 weeks. Only during the week of April 1st did the category see a temporary decline, likely the result of an Easter calendar shift. (The week of April 1st 2024 is being compared to the week of April 3rd, 2023, which included the run-up to Easter)
Some of this growth can be attributed to the continued expansion of segment leaders like Dollar General. But the category has also been bolstered by the emphasis consumers continue to place on value in the face of still-high prices and economic uncertainty.
Dollar General, which has been expanding both its store count and its grocery offerings, saw YoY visits increase between 9.1% and 15.9% throughout the quarter. Affordable-indulgence-oriented Five Below, which has also been adding locations at a brisk clip, saw YoY visits increase between 4.9% and 18.8%.
And though Dollar Tree has taken steps to rightsize its Family Dollar brand, the company’s eponymous banner – which caters to middle-income consumers in suburban areas – continued to grow both its store count and its visits in Q2.
Grocery store chains also performed well in Q2 2024 – experiencing strongly positive foot traffic growth throughout the quarter. Though the sector continues to face its share of challenges, stabilizing food-at-home prices and improvements in employee retention and supply chain management have helped propel the industry forward.
Diving into the performance of specific chains shows that within the grocery segment, too, price was paramount in Q2 2024 – with limited-assortment value grocery stores like Aldi and Trader Joe’s leading the way.
Traditional chains H-E-B and Food Lion (owned by Ahold Delhaize) – both of which are known for relatively low prices – outperformed the wider grocery sector with respective YoY foot traffic boosts of 11.4% and 8.7%. But ShopRite, Safeway (owned by Albertsons), Kroger, and Albertsons also drew more visits in Q2 2024 than in the equivalent period of last year.
Fitness has proven to be relatively inflation-proof in recent years – thriving even in the face of reduced discretionary spending and consumer cutbacks. Indeed, rising prices may have actually helped boost gym attendance, as people sought to squeeze the most value out of their monthly fees and replace pricy outings with already-paid-for gym excursions.
And despite lapping a remarkably strong 2023, visits to gyms nationwide remained elevated YoY in Q2 2024.
Diving into the data for some of the nation’s leading gyms shows that today’s fitness market has plenty of room at the top. Planet Fitness, 24 Hour Fitness, Life Time Fitness, Orangetheory Fitness, and LA Fitness all experienced YoY visit growth in Q2 2024 – reflecting consumers’ enduring interest in all things wellness-related.
But it was EōS Fitness and Crunch Fitness – two value gyms that have been pursuing aggressive expansion strategies – that really hit it out of the park, with respective YoY foot traffic increases of 23.4% and 21.4%.
The week of April 1st saw a decline in YoY visits to superstores – likely attributable to the Easter calendar shift noted above. But the category quickly rallied, and with back-to-school shopping and major superstore sales events coming up this July, the category appears poised to enjoy continued success throughout the summer.
Within the superstore category, wholesale clubs continued to stand out – with Costco Wholesale, Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale Club enjoying YoY foot traffic growth ranging from 12.0% to 7.4%. But Target and Walmart also impressed with 4.6% and 4.0% YoY visit increases.
Inflation, elevated interest rates, and a sluggish real estate market have created a perfect storm for the home improvement industry, with spending on renovations in decline. The accelerated return to office has likely also taken its toll on the category, as people spend more time outside the home and have less availability to immerse themselves in DIY projects.
But despite these challenges, weekly YoY foot traffic to home improvement and furnishing chains remained elevated throughout much of the Q2 – with June and April seeing mostly positive YoY visit growth, and May hovering just below 2023 levels. This (modest) visit growth may be driven by consumers loading up on supplies for necessary home repairs, or by shoppers seeking materials for smaller projects. And given the importance of Q2 for the home improvement sector, this largely positive snapshot may offer some promise of good things to come.
Some chains within the home improvement category continued to perform especially well in Q2 2024 – with rapidly expanding, budget-oriented Harbor Freight Tools leading the pack. But Ace Hardware, Menards, The Home Depot, and Lowe’s also saw foot traffic increases in Q2, showcasing the category’s resilience in the face of headwinds.
Restaurants – including full-service restaurants (FSR), quick-service restaurants (QSR), fast-casual chains, and coffee chains – lagged behind grocery stores and other essential goods retailers in Q2 2024, as price-sensitive consumers prioritized needs over wants and ate at home more often.
Still, YoY restaurant foot traffic remained up throughout most of the quarter. And impressively, the sector saw a YoY visit uptick during the week of Mother’s Day (the week of May 6th, 2024, compared to the week of May 8th, 2023) – an important milestone for FSR.
The restaurant industry’s YoY visit growth was felt across segments – though fast-casual and coffee chains experienced the biggest visit boosts. Like in Q1 2024, fast-casual restaurants hit the sweet spot between indulgence and affordability, outpacing QSR in the wake of fast food price hikes. And building on the positive YoY trendline that began to emerge last quarter, full-service restaurants finished Q2 2024 with a 1.4% YoY visit uptick.
Chain expansion was the name of the restaurant game in Q2 2024, with several chains that have been growing their footprints outperforming segment averages – including CAVA, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Ziggi’s Coffee, California-based Philz Coffee, Raising Cane’s, Whataburger, and First Watch. Chili’s Grill and Bar also outpaced the full-service category average, aided by the revamping of its “3 for Me” menu.
Retailers and restaurants in Q2 2024 continued to face plenty of challenges, from inflation to rising labor costs and volatile consumer confidence. But foot traffic trends across industries – including both essential goods purveyors like grocery stores and more discretionary categories like home improvement and restaurants – suggest plenty of room for cautious optimism as 2024 wears on.
