Tourism travel sector rebounding near pre-pandemic levels

More than 15,000 people attended various conventions in Oklahoma City this year from April to June, including inside the new Oklahoma City Convention Center shown here.

The NCAA Women’s College World Series that concluded last month in Oklahoma City drew what will most likely be record crowds inside USA Hall of Fame Stadium. The late decision by the NCAA to increase capacity to 100% no doubt played a huge role in that increase, especially after a new upper deck was completed in 2020 that essentially added an extra 4,000 seats, bringing total capacity to about 12,000 people.

Included in those likely record crowds were hundreds, if not thousands, of softball fans from cities across the state and nation. They typically stayed the whole week of the series, spending money on food, hotels, area attractions and shopping. An additional number of outside visitors also came to Oklahoma City in May as part of the Big 12 baseball and softball championships, adding to the amount of money spent recently in OKC.

Zac Craig, president of the Oklahoma City Convention and Visitors Bureau, said from a leisure tourism standpoint, signs indicate that the city is well on its way to a recovery from the pandemic.

“If we examine the most recent data, which is the month of May, our hotel partners saw a 58% occupancy rate citywide. That compares to 66% for the same month in 2019. So, we are less than 10 percentage points from pre-pandemic levels as it relates solely to occupancy in our hotels,” Craig said.

That occupancy rate should rise even further once the June figures are released.

“We just got some reports from ESPN that the Women’s College World Series was the most viewed series ever. I think we are going to see a big spike month over month as it relates to these demand generators from Big 12 baseball and softball, and certainly from the Women’s College World Series,” Craig said.

Despite the increase in tourism travel Oklahoma City saw this spring – and continues to experience during the summer months – business travel and group travel are still lagging, however. Craig pointed to several contributing factors for this discrepancy, including travelers concerns about being close to other people, especially in large groups or on airplanes, as well as their uncertainty if whether people have been vaccinated or not. Still, Craig believes consumer confidence in both groups is climbing, which in turn will lead to even more visitor spending in Oklahoma City down the road.

“Our lead volume from our convention sales sector here at the CVB has actually just exceeded in the month of May where we were in May of 2019. That is a very exciting stat for me. In addition, the leads themselves look different. They are bigger, and a lot of that business is new business,” Craig said, noting that more than 15,000 people have attended various conventions in Oklahoma City this year from April to June.

“I see a lot of activity picking up over the next several months, not only from our business travel community but also for our convention center and at our hotels. Our task and our challenge with being the new stewards of new infrastructure – and that is not only the Oklahoma City Convention Center but also our streetcar, Scissortail Park and the surrounding areas – is that we built this infrastructure to go capture new business and extend our reach. And so we are laser focused on that mission here at the CVB, and I am excited about sharing new business as we court them and as we confirm them for future years,” he said.

This story originally appeared in the July 2021 edition of the VeloCity newsletter.