BISMARCK — The latest economic impact report from the North Dakota Department of Commerce shows a down year for North Dakota tourism in 2025. A decline in Canadian travel had impacts on total visitation and spending, but early signs are pointing toward a rebound in 2026.
North Dakota saw a 2.6% decrease in visitation in 2025, with 25.6 million visitors coming to the state. Total visitor spending reached $3.4 billion, a 1.2% decrease from 2024.
“I don’t think we were surprised by that — we had seen some decreases throughout the year. Visitor spending was only down about 1.2%, which is not huge but we always like to be growing,” Tourism and Marketing Director Sara Otte Coleman said.
International travel saw the sharpest decline, with a 23.9% decrease in border crossings. As a result of that decline in Canadian traffic, the Tourism and Marketing Division estimates it lost around $57 million in direct spending from Canadians.
Canadian spending was estimated by border crossing numbers and average daily spending. Domestic and international traffic combined, the decrease in spending was slightly smaller than the decrease in visitors, which could be attributed to rising costs and growing amenities.
“Costs are increasing, but I think we have more recreation and entertainment options. People who are coming are maybe spending more money on those paid experiences and our amenities are growing, too,” Otte Coleman said.
Early indicators in 2026 point to improvement. Canadian border entries increased in April for the first time in 15 months. The state also is starting to see positive numbers in marketing, which had hit lows over the last year. Canadians may be seeking North Dakota travel, based on their internet habits.
“That signals intentions to travel. Our website traffic, or example, from Manitoba this year is up 370% in organic traffic, which is almost unheard of now in the day of AI. That’s a great sign,” Otte Coleman said.
She believes the state and tourism division have been early adopters of AI. They have worked across platforms to train it and make sure the right information is being sourced.
“It’s just going to be a continual evolution. We’re going to have new tools, new platforms or technologies that are going to integrate artificial intelligence. We just need to be smart about it. There are a lot of people that use it to build full-scale itineraries and we’ve had itineraries on our website for decades. So now, it’s making sure those are quotable and accurate,” Otte Coleman said.
Other victories in 2026 include the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library opening in Medora and America 250 celebration. President Donald Trump’s visit to Medora and the Roosevelt Library received heavy coverage from media outlets. It’s still early to tell, but the lasting impact of that coverage could have great implications in free marketing.
“Attracting that media is important because we have such a small budget. So to have the eyes of the nation and even the world on us that week is going to have such significant impact,” Otte Coleman said.
Digital Content Producer and Sports Reporter at the Grand Forks Herald since December of 2020. Maxwell can be contacted at mmarko@gfherald.com.