Seattle has long been a tourist destination for several reasons: seven major cruise lines made almost 200 port calls in 2014; more than 10 million visitors watch “flying fish” and/or sip a latte at the first Starbucks at Pike Place Market every year; about a million people a year delight in the views from the top of the Space Needle; and many other attractions such as the Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks games and other sporting events, the Boeing Museum of Flight, and Puget Sound bring millions more to this beautiful area.
This amount of tourism, along with the robust convention business, resulted in an average 80% occupancy rate in the Sea-Tac area in 2013. This report also claims more than 300 conventions were turned away from Seattle because there was no space. The convention center’s planned expansion will possibly begin in 2017, but the hotel market is already growing aggressively, with 13 new properties under construction as of June of this year in the tri-county area, and several more properties in renovation.
Business travel to Sea-Tac has also increased in recent years. Not only is it home to four Fortune 500 companies (Amazon.com, Starbucks, Nordstom, and Expeditors International), but several growing companies are thriving in the area. Seattle ranks as the 8th fastest-growing city in job growth, according to a recent report from Arizona State University. New and growing businesses create a demand for office space, which is reflected in the declining vacancy rate and rising rental rates. While new office space construction isn’t expected to be significant, several properties have recently been acquired with the intent to remodel or redevelop.
While all these positive indicators are viewed by some as being cyclical, the industry seems to be “striking while the iron is hot” and planning for continued growth.
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