CoStar and Tourism Economics provide tempered update mostly
due to uncertainty about international inbound travel.
NATIONAL REPORT – The recently revised U.S. hotel forecast
from CoStar and Tourism Economics projects a 1.7% increase in RevPAR during the
World Cup months of June and July. While the anticipated lift is modest, the
forecasters said it would represent a meaningful contribution to overall
industry growth in 2026.
Overall for 2026, the industry is forecasted for a 0.6% RevPAR increase after a
decline of 0.3% in 2025. Without that World Cup-driven gain, RevPAR growth
would be 40 basis points lower at 0.2%.
During the last U.S. World Cup in 1994, RevPAR for June and July rose 6.9%,
largely on a 5.0% increase in average daily rate. The top-line growth around
this year’s World Cup will be almost entirely on a 1.6% lift in ADR.
“Our forecast is tempered due to the uncertainty surrounding international
inbound travel, which fell in 2025 due to policy and perception changes,” said
Isaac Collazo, STR’s senior director, analytics. “Still, a 1.7 increase would
be noticeably better than the months before (-0.4%) and after (+1.0%) the World
Cup.”