If it feels like you've been seeing more tourists in the District, you're right —2018 was another record year for tourism here.
All those visitors mean money and jobs. For the ninth year in a row, the District has seen an increase in the number of visitors. Last year, nearly 24 million people came to D.C. from all over the world to enjoy the monuments and the museums.
"We wanted to come to the States for our holiday and we thought New York and Washington were the two places to visit," said Graham Irvin, visiting from Aberdeen, Scotland.
While overall, the number of visitors coming to D.C. is up, the number of international tourists is down slightly. As with recent years, the country sending the most visitors to D.C. is China.
And tourism in D.C. is big business. Visitors spent nearly $8 billion, also an increase over the previous year. All those dollars spent resulted in tens of thousands of jobs.
"Those 75,000 jobs and the spending that happens as a result of our tourism allow me to make investments in schools and roads, transportation and the human services that make our city special," D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said.
Tourism officials are also focused on the impact of visitors in the city: "Making sure when visitors are in the city, they're not just on the National Mall, but they're also enjoying our neighborhoods," said Elliott Ferguson, CEO of Destination D.C.
