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Brick-and-mortar retail continues to evolve – and while consumers have always turned to physical commercial spaces to gather, shop, eat, and be entertained, we predict that 2025 will be the year of brick and mortar stores as Brand Amplifiers. What do we mean by that? Simply put, the more we have options to do things online – be it shop, communicate, work, or play – the more we also crave the opportunity to do these things in the physical world, and brick and mortar is at the center of making these experiences larger than life. It’s no surprise, then, that even digitally native Gen Z is still regularly visiting physical stores.
We’ve written extensively about the importance of brick-and-mortar locations for digital brands and of standalone boutiques for wholesale brands – within the four walls of a branded store, marketers have the ability to control the narrative. From the visual merchandising to the customer associate, the brand’s personality and DNA can really come to life.
The recent Meta Popup Lab on Melrose Ave in the West Hollywood Design District – created to test its Ray-Ban smart glasses – offers a great example of brick and mortar’s potential to amplify digital brands and make them come to life. While the venue only opened for a little under two months, visitation data and audience profile analysis reveals the consumer demand for the experience as well as the brand amplification value that Meta received from the pop up.
Weekends tend to be the most popular recreation days, as that’s when most people have free time to shop and explore. And looking at visitation patterns shows that this trend held true at the Meta Popup Lab and in the wider Design District retail corridor in which the pop up was operating. But the Meta Popup Lab actually received a larger share of its visits on Saturdays and Sundays compared to the wider shopping corridor – indicating that visitors were dedicating precious weekend time to visit the pop up and make sure they could get the full Meta experience without feeling rushed by their various weekday constraints.
Diving into the visit duration at Meta Lab reveals that over a quarter of visits lasted between 15-29 minutes, and roughly 1 in 6 lasted 30-44 minutes. That time frame is enough to try on some frames, speak to a customer associate, and make a purchase decision.
Meta Lab also drew more visitors from trade areas with higher income and smaller households compared to the wider West Hollywood Design District. This indicates that, as may be expected, Meta Lab attracted a relatively young and affluent audience – tech-savvy visitors with the disposable income to spend.
The success of the Meta Popup Lab underscores the potential of brick-and-mortar spaces as brand amplifiers, transforming digital concepts into immersive, tangible experiences. As consumers continue to seek deeper connections with brands, physical retail offers a unique opportunity to engage, educate, and excite in ways that digital alone cannot. In an era where online and offline worlds are increasingly intertwined, brands that strategically leverage physical spaces will stand out by creating lasting impressions that go beyond the screen.
The Placer 100 Index for Retail & Dining is a curated, dynamic list of leading chains operating across the United States. It includes chains from a variety of industries, such as superstores, grocery, dollar stores, apparel, full-service dining, QSR, and more.
Visits to the Placer 100 Retail & Dining Index increased 3.7% in January 2025 relative to January 2024, indicating that – despite the recent dip in consumer confidence – traffic to brick-and-mortar retail and dining venues remains resilient.
We’ve written extensively about Chili’s ongoing success, so it came as no surprise that the casual dining chain topped the Placer 100 chart again in January 2025: Overall visits and visits per location grew a whopping 29.3% and 30.2%, respectively, compared to January 2024. Barnes & Noble has also been thriving for a while, and the legacy bookseller continued its winning streak with double-digit growth in both overall visits and visits per location in the first month of 2025.
Other notable chart-toppers from January 2025 include LA Fitness, which has been rightsizing its fleet and closing locations throughout the country, leading to a 8.1% year-over-year (YoY) increase in average visits per location. CVS, which closed numerous venues in 2024 as well, has also seen its average visits per location shoot up.
Like Chili’s and Barnes & Noble, Warby Parker was among the January 2025 top 10 growth chains for both overall visits and visits per venue. The company is opening stores at a rapid rate with the long-term goal of 900 brick-and-mortar stores nationwide.
Warby is an expert in omnichannel integration, and the company continues to enhance the online customer experience even as it builds up a brick-and-mortar empire. And analyzing the brand’s January 2025 metrics along with its 2024 performance – when overall visits increased 16.8% while average visits per venue remained steady – reveals that this investment in both its physical and digital channels is paying off.
According to co-CEO and co-founder Dave Gilboa, brick-and-mortar venues accounted for around 70% of Warby Parker’s revenue as of Q3 2024 – an increase from 67% in Q3 2023 – though many customers who initially bought in-store made subsequent purchases online. This showcases the customer acquisition potential of physical stores, especially for companies who succeed in integrating and creating synergy between their offline and online presence. And some of Warby’s strongest e-commerce growth has taken place in metro areas where the brand has a significant physical presence – emphasizing the role that brick-and-mortar venues play in raising brand awareness and strengthening consumer engagement.
It seems, then, that Warby Parker's strategic offline expansion is not only driving in-store sales but also fueling online growth – demonstrating the powerful interplay between brick-and-mortar locations and digital engagement in strengthening customer loyalty and brand visibility.
For more Placer 100 Retail & Dining Index data, visit https://www.placer.ai/placer-100.
About the Placer.ai Mall Index: The Index analyzes data from 100 top-tier indoor malls, 100 open-air shopping centers (not including outlet malls) and 100 outlet malls across the country, in both urban and suburban areas. Placer.ai leverages a panel of tens of millions of devices and utilizes machine learning to make estimations for visits to locations across the country.
Shopping centers started the year off strong with year-over-year growth across all mall formats analyzed: January 2025 visits increased by 5.5% for indoor malls and by 2.9% and 2.7% for open-air shopping centers and outlet malls, respectively, compared to January 2024. The January visit growth is particularly impressive given this year’s arctic blast which kept many consumers home for much of the month.
Relatively few mall-goers visit the mall twice (or more) in one month. Open-air shopping centers have the highest rate of returning monthly visitors – likely thanks to their extensive dining and entertainment options – but even this format only sees around a third of its visitors heading to an open-air shopping center more than once a month.
Comparing the share of returning visitors in January 2024 and 2025 for each format reveals that the share of returning (2+ times) visitors decreased YoY in January 2025, even as overall traffic increased. This means that last month’s visit growth was primarily driven by casual visitors, and could indicate that interest in malls is moving beyond regular patrons as the format now gains new customers – boding well for shopping centers’ potential in 2025.
Even though January visits increased YoY, traffic was still (expectedly) significantly lower than it was in December. The holidays are malls’ busiest season, and traffic between December 2024 and January 2025 dropped 36.1%, on average, across the three formats. And diving into the data reveals several shifts in audience profile and visitor behavior between December and January.
In terms of visitor behavior, dwell time across the three mall formats fell in January compared to December, indicating that all three shopping center types enjoy an increase in both the quantity and the quality of visits over the holiday season. The increase in dwell time in December seemed correlated with the increase in holiday visits: Outlet malls, which received the largest holiday visit boost, also had the biggest difference in dwell time between December and January (73.8 minutes compared to 68.7 minutes, or a 6.9% increase in dwell time in December). Meanwhile, open-air shopping centers, which received the smallest holiday visit boost, also saw the smallest difference in dwell time between December and January.
In terms of audience profile, the holidays seemed to drive more visits from members of households with children to all mall formats. This is likely due to several factors, including parents looking for a one-stop-shop for their gift lists and to the numerous family-friendly holiday activities offered by malls across the country, such as mall Santas and holiday markets.
The January 2025 Mall Index data suggests significant growth potential for malls in 2025. The increase in one-off visits may indicate that malls are attracting a broader audience, signaling an opportunity for retailers and shopping centers to convert these casual visitors into loyal customers. Will malls leverage this momentum to ensure that today’s occasional mall-goers become tomorrow’s repeat shoppers?
Visit placer.ai to find out.
The Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles will face off in Super Bowl LIX on Sunday in a rematch of the Super Bowl two years ago. And on their journeys to the big game, each team hosted a conference championship in their home stadium – in both the 2023 and 2025 playoffs. How did the visitors to these games compare, and what might it mean for this Super Bowl sequel? Read on to find out.
The AFC and NFC Championships determine the teams that will play in the Super Bowl – and die hard fans travel from near and far to attend big games.
The AFC Championship in both 2023 (for the 2022 season) and 2025 (for the 2024 season) took place at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium – home of the Kansas City Chiefs – with the Chiefs playing the Cincinnati Bengals in 2023 and the Buffalo Bills in 2025. In 2025, GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium saw an increased share of visitors traveling less than 30 miles to the stadium (45.1%), compared to 2023 (43.6%). Fans tend to rally around a winning team, and an increase in local attendees suggests a boost in support from the Chief’s core fanbase in the Kansas City, MO area as the team looked to take another step towards winning three straight Super Bowls. But the stadium also received an elevated share of attendees traveling 100-250 miles to the stadium in 2025 (24.7%) compared to 2023 (21.5%) – a distance that includes Omaha, NE, Tulsa, OK, and Wichita, KS – indicating that Chiefs Kingdom has also bolstered its strongholds somewhat further away over the last two years.
On the NFC side, the Philadelphia Eagles played at their home stadium – Lincoln Financial Field – in both the 2023 NFC Championship (for the 2022 season) against the San Francisco 49ers and the 2025 NFC Championship (for the 2024 season) against the Washington Commanders. And between 2023 and 2025, the share of visitors who traveled between 100-250 miles to Lincoln Financial Field doubled (from 6.0% to 12.0%) – likely thanks to the D.C. area fans who made the trip to cheer on the Washington Commanders in 2025. The share of attendees who traveled between 30-100 miles also increased in 2025 relative to 2023 (23.4% vs. 21.5%), which could reflect visitors from areas adjacent to Philadelphia and Washington D.C. who also support one of the two competing NFC East teams.
During the upcoming Super Bowl at Caesars Stadium in New Orleans, LA, neither team will have home-field advantage. But if past Super Bowls provide any indication, a sizable local audience is to be expected, along with fans traveling from the teams’ hometowns and other large population centers.
Analyzing the audience segmentation of the stadium visitors at the 2023 and 2025 AFC and NFC Championships can provide further insight into the fans that were in attendance – and those who might attend the Super Bowl.
Despite the geographical distance between GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in the Midwest and Lincoln Financial Field in the Mid-Atlantic, their audiences during these high-profile contests were surprisingly similar. Trade area analysis of the two stadiums combined with the Spatial.ai: PersonaLive dataset revealed that the “Ultra Wealthy Families,” “Upper Suburban Diverse Families,” “Wealthy Suburban Families,” and “Young Professionals” segments were the largest audience groups in the captured markets of both stadiums for the 2023 and 2025 Conference Championships. (A venue’s captured market refers to the census block groups (CBGs) from which it draws its visitors, weighted to reflect the share of visits from each one – and thus reflects the profile of the venue’s visitor base.)
This suggests that despite regional differences and ticket-price differentials, for the biggest games, fans in the stands come from relatively similar households. This may also be the case for the Super Bowl, which rotates annually between NFL stadiums.
Moving on from the Conference Championships, the stakes will be even higher this coming Sunday at Super Bowl LIX. How will visitation and demographic patterns stack up?Visit Placer.ai to find out.
Shake Shack and Wingstop, two major names in the fast-casual and quick-service restaurant category, have had a standout year. Both chains enjoyed impressive visits while executing wide-ranging expansion strategies.
We dive into the location analytics for both brands to recap 2024’s success.
Shake Shack and Wingstop performed extremely well in 2024, with visits up 21.7% and 23.0%, respectively, compared to 2023 – thanks in large part to aggressive fleet expansions. Both chains enjoyed their strongest year-over-year (YoY) visit growth in the first half of the year, with H1 2024 visits to Shake Shack up 26.0% and to Wingstop up 28.7% compared to the same period in 2023. And while growth slowed down slightly towards the end of 2024, the two brands still ended the year with 16.8% (Shake Shack) and 11.6% (Wingstop) Q4 YoY visit growth – quite an impressive metric, especially given the wider dining headwinds.
Shake Shack and Wingstop are both in the midst of aggressive fleet expansions: Shake Shack opened 42 new locations and plans to triple that number in the coming years, while Wingstop added at least 138 new locations and also plans on adding hundreds of new stores in the coming years. Both companies have made suburban expansion a central focus of their growth strategies, and psychographic shifts in their captured markets over the past five years suggest this approach is working. Analyzing the chains’ visitor bases using the Esri: Tapestry dataset combined with Placer.ai captured market data reveals that Shake Shack increased the share of “Suburban Periphery” visitors in its trade area from 43.8% in 2019 to 45.4% in 2024. The share of the “Suburban Periphery” segment in Wingstop’s trade area rose from 23.8% to 24.9% during the same period. Wingstop also saw a decline in its share of “Urban Periphery” visitors while the share of the “Principal Urban Center” segment in both chains’ trade areas decreased during the analyzed period – further indicating growth in suburban markets.As more people migrate to the suburbs, offering convenient dining options outside of city centers is likely to remain a winning strategy for both chains.
While expansions helped drive the overall visit numbers up, the two chains also received several traffic spikes throughout the year driven by limited time offers (LTOs) and special menu launches. This strategy has recently proven successful for a number of QSR and fast-casual chains – Wendy’s, for example, finished 2024 with a 2.8% YoY increase in Q4 visits (0.7% YoY increase for 2024 as a whole) thanks in large part to its Krabby Patty Kollab LTO. Shake Shack received the most significant visit increase relative to its 2024 weekly visit average during its holiday special which included offers of free burgers every day from mid-December through Christmas Eve. Diners eagerly responded to the promotion, with weekly visits surging by 24.4% during the week of December 16th, 2024 relative to 2024’s weekly average. Similarly, Wingstop’s National Wing Day promo led to a 17.2% visit increase over the week of July 30th. Other promotional activities also influenced visits at these dining chains. For example, Shake Shack’s summer barbecue menu, which included a unique perk – a limited offer of “stain insurance” for customers who got excess BBQ sauce on their clothes – drove visits 13.8% higher than the weekly visit average. Similarly, Wingstop’s Summer of Flavor bundle drove visits to the chain during the week of July 22nd, 2024 by 6.6% relative to the 2024 weekly visit average. These promotions highlight the importance of creating buzz and offering exclusive deals to attract both new and returning customers.
Both Shake Shack and Wingstop enjoyed impressive visits in 2024 while expanding their fleets – but can the two chains continue this success into 2025? Visit Placer.ai/blog to keep up with the latest data-driven dining insights.
In December 2024, Saks Fifth Avenue finalized its acquisition of Neiman Marcus – forming a new parent company Saks Global. We dove into the foot traffic patterns and audience segmentation for the two department stores in order to better understand Saks Global’s positioning following the deal.
Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Neiman Marcus are four of the leading players in the luxury department store space. Analysis of the retailers’ relative visits share in 2024 reveals that Nordstrom claims the lion's share of combined visits between the four department stores (68.4% in 2024), distantly followed by Bloomingdale’s (14.9%). On their own, Saks (7.3%) and Neiman (9.5%) drive the smallest shares of visits, but together, the two department stores account for a greater share of visits than Bloomingdale’s, making Saks Global the second largest luxury department store player by share of visits.
In addition to a larger share of visits, by acquiring Neiman Marcus, Saks appears to gain an audience with a greater affinity for “accessible luxury”. Although a sizeable share of Saks’ visitors also visited a Nordstrom store (40.4%), an even larger share (just over half, or 50.1%) of Neiman’s visitors also visited the accessible luxury department stores. Some have posited that Saks Fifth Avenue could be positioned as an “accessible luxury brand”. However, the data suggests that Neiman may be better suited to compete for visits from “accessible luxury” shoppers.
Diving deeper into the retailers’ quarterly visit patterns further highlights how Saks stands to gain through its acquisition of Neiman. Of the four luxury department stores analyzed, Saks Fifth Avenue received the smallest share of its visits in Q4, while Neiman received the largest share of its visits over the holiday shopping season. So by acquiring Neiman, Saks Global benefits from a greater share of visits during a critical retail moment.
Along with visit share gains and a larger holiday boost, the acquisition of Neiman Marcus gives Saks Global access to a more affluent audience than Saks Fifth Avenue’s. Analysis of Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus’s trade areas combined with STI:PopStats data reveals that both retailers drive traffic from households with above-average incomes – but Neiman’s audience seems to be slightly more affluent: In Q4 2024, the median household income (HHI) of Neiman’s captured market was $112.8K/year, approximately $10K/year higher than Saks Fifth Avenue’s ($102.9K/year). A more affluent audience may better position Saks Global in the exclusive luxury space, particularly as it launches Authentic Luxury Group – a platform that aims to accelerate the growth of upscale brands like Barneys New York.
Further analysis of segmentation data reveals that Neiman Marcus also brings a more family-oriented audience to the Saks ecosystem. In Q4 2024, 26.2% of households in Neiman Marcus’ captured market were households with children – relatively near the 27.0% nationwide benchmark. Meanwhile, only 23.7% of households in Saks Fifth Avenue’s captured market were households with children. This suggests that the acquisition of Neiman allows Saks Global to drive more traffic from family-oriented households previously underserved by the Saks Fifth Avenue banner. Several Saks and Neiman locations are in close proximity to each other, so it’s conceivable that Saks Global will consolidate its real estate footprint in the future. If so, understanding audience segmentation could help the new parent company decide which retailer best serves the local market.
Saks Fifth Avenue’s acquisition of Neiman Marcus strengthens Saks Global’s position in luxury retail, boosting its visits share and access to a more affluent, family-oriented audience.How will the merger impact the luxury department store space moving forward? Visit Placer.ai to find out.
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.
