Summer Events Expected To Bring Millions Of Tourism Dollars To Tulsa

Tulsa city leaders say tourism in the city is on the rise as several events are coming to town over the next several weeks.

Tim Chambers, the Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Tulsa Regional Tourism, says they are expecting their highest numbers yet.

This is due to major events like the PGA Championship and Iron Man.

“Incredible, incredible jolt to our economy just from world class events being here,” said Chambers.

The PGA alone is expected to bring in $143 million of economic impact, while the Iron Man is projected to bring in $11 million.

Chambers said these effects are part of a larger goal.

“Drawing events to the city has a short-term effect, which is economic impact, bodies, walking around town, enjoying our hotels, enjoying our food, enjoying our attractions,” said Chambers. “But also, as we’re planning those initial experiences for someone to say, ‘hey, I may have come here for a convention, but this is definitely somewhere I want to bring my family back for a vacation.”’

He said many places are starting to choose Tulsa to host their events over other major cities.

“We’ve got some great venues, that was very attractive for Oklahoma FFA,” Chambers said. “We hadn’t had them in Tulsa before, but we’re ready now. We’ve got those capabilities, we got the downtown infrastructure, we’ve got the restaurants capable in walking distance of hotels.”

Chambers said Tulsa has a lot to look forward to coming off the pandemic.

“A really strong year from all of our events, we have specific goals that we try to hit from a room night standpoint, with regards to tourism and we’ve shattered those, which is great,” he added. “It’s just an exciting uphill momentum that we’ve got going on right now.”

Chambers hopes these events encourage people to stay in Tulsa for the long haul.

“This is our first chance to woo someone into looking at Tulsa, loving Tulsa, and maybe eventually becoming a Tulsan themselves,” he said.