City leaders, businesses and community members got a snapshot of how visitors are helping shape the town’s future on Wednesday’s Impact 510: The Town Tourism Day at the Oakland Museum of California.
Numbers released Wednesday show in 2025, 3.2 million visitors created a total economic impact of $740 million and helped support more than 5,200 jobs.
“Wherever I go, people are happy about helping their city move forward, and I see people moving forward and it’s not just the mayor or city councilmembers, this is our entire city moving forward,” said city Mayor Barbara Lee.
“Being named the number one food city in America two years in a row brings resurgence to our restaurants, brings our restaurant and culinary alive. Events like Super Bowl and even NBA All-Star from last year is bringing sports into the forefront,” said Peter Gamez, Visit Oakland CEO.
The numbers are slightly lower than the year before, but day visitations are up. With major sports events including the Austrian soccer team staying in Oakland, leading up to the FIFA World Cup and global moments, Visit Oakland expects those tourism numbers to rise.
“When Alysa Liu received her gold medal, we saw an increase in request for Oakland, what is going on in Oakland,” Gamez said. “Then with Ryan Coogler and Khelani with a Grammy, all these golden moments are putting Oakland back in the center in people’s minds”.
That positivity is helping drive new business. Entrepreneurs behind Hysteria Sports Bar, set to become Oakland’s first women’s sports bar and also expected to open in 2027 in time for the women’s World Cup, say the timing is right.
“It’s really encouraging to see the numbers, particularly because we are opening a business in an industry that is known to be one of the hardest,” said Erin Waddell, co-founder of Hysteria Sports Bar.
“We are so excited we are looking to be located here in Oakland because the town needs it, the town deserves it and the town is waiting on it,” said Audacious Wilson, co-founder of Hysteria Sports Bar.
The report also highlights challenges with international travel down nationwide. But Oakland is seeing a bright spot. Travel from Mexico is up 6%. Lee says overall momentum can be felt, pointing to safe, successful events and a community pushing forward together.
“We have our challenges we have to understand and move forward with and deal with, but I think looking at the opportunities and the upside of what is going on, Oakland is definitely on the move,” Lee said.