Destination DC, a nonprofit organization that promotes and tracks tourism and special events in the country’s capital, says it is preparing a WorldPride DC economic impact report, which is expected to determine the number of visitors who have attended related events.
Over 100 events took place on the official DC 2025 schedule for World Pride 2025 from May 17th to June 8th, but observers believe that the biggest visitors from other countries and last week’s visitors, when the World Pride Parade and two-day street festival took place on Pennsylvania Avenue near Capitol, USA.
“WorldPride was an incredible celebration of celebrating and advocating for the global LGBTQ+ community,” Kyle Deckelbaun, senior manager of domestic media relations at Desting DC, told Washington Blade earlier this month.
“The early indicators show the success of the event, but the numbers aren’t fully there yet,” he said. “Capital Pride, Destination DC and partners are still collecting data across all WorldPride events. A full economic impact report will take time.”
He told Blade it would take at least two months for the economic impact report to be completed.
When referring to Capital Pride, Deckelbaum mentioned the Capital Pride Alliance, a DC-based group that played the lead role in organizing world Pride DCs.
Ryan Boss, the group’s executive director, said this week the Washington Blade will not release its own attendance figures until the Capital Pride Alliance releases its economic impact report.
Destination DC reported at the end of May that its latest figures for May 21 had dropped by 3% compared to the same two weeks in 2024 for the World Pride Opening Ceremony bookings from May 30 to June 1 weekend and the closing weekend of June 6-8.
Some DC government officials, including Mayor Muriel Bowser, had predicted that Office had provided DC agency support for WorldPride events, but that as many as 3 million visitors would compete in WorldPride in January.
However, shortly after President Donald Trump took office on January 20th and began introducing policies deemed hostile to European, Latin America and Canada countries, including proposed tariffs, news began to surface that many potential visitors from abroad, including potential LGBTQ visitors, have chosen not to come to the US.
Trump’s statements and policies opposed the rights of LGBTQ people, especially trans people, also played a role in alienating potential LGBTQ visitors to the United States worldwide. Several European countries have issued warnings that LGBTQ people, particularly trans people, could pose a potential risk if they travel to the United States.
Destination DC officials say it is not the only indicator of the number of people attending large events like WorldPride. They say they will consider a variety of other factors to determine global attendance in the Economic Impact Report.
WorldPride’s DC attendance is yet to be decided, and it first appeared in Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights and Gay News.
Source: Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News – www.washingtonblade.com
