TULSA, Okla. — Tourists spent $12.8 billion across Oklahoma in 2025, according to a report from the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department.
That’s a 2.4% increase from 2024, when travel spending sat at $12.5 billion.
WATCH: TOURISM IN TULSA: Spending booms to $12.8 billion in 2025
TOURISM IN TULSA: Spending booms to $12.8 billion in 2025
Amanda Stout and her husband own The Sky Gallery, one of the many businesses that sit along Route 66. Stout said she definitely is feeling the extra foot traffic lately.
“Just in the last week, we’ve had dozens of people from outside of Tulsa that are stopping, outside of the country that are stopping,” said Stout. “On Sunday, it was the film school from France.”
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Stout told 2 News Oklahoma that it’s tourists that help keep her doors, and her neighbors along the route, open.
Centennial celebrations are, of course, helping business, too.
“My May from 2025 to 2026 is probably double in the foot traffic and the sales for this area,” she said. “It is huge for small businesses, for local artists.”
The OTRD report showed that 2.4% increase in spending created 960 new jobs, led to a 4.1% increase in travel earnings, and a 4.5% increase in state and local tax revenue.
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Tulsa sees $1.4B in tourism revenue
Locally, $1,703 million were spent in Tulsa by visitors in 2025, according to the report.
While the boost in sales is greatly welcomed, it’s more than that for Stout.
“We’re not getting rich off of this part, we’re helping sell local art and getting local art all over the country,” she said. “The people who came in from France, they all bought something. They all bought something. Whether it was a button or a magnet, a bracelet, a keychain, and to think that’s going back to France with you, something that was made right here in Tulsa by a local artist.”
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