As the city of Lodi celebrates national recognition as a small town and drafts its economic development plan, recent numbers indicate its tourism industry shows no signs of slowing.
Visit Lodi released its annual tourism impact report Thursday, showing visitors spent $303.9 million in the city last year, a 9.6% increase from 2024.
About $161.8 million — or 53.2% — was spent at wineries and on off-premise food and beverage. Another 15.7% was spent at restaurants and 10.4% on lodging.
Lodi Winegrape Commission Executive Director Stuart Spencer said the wine industry-related figures are encouraging, noting continued opportunities to highlight Lodi’s wines, hospitality and agricultural community.
“Wine is one of agriculture’s highest value-added products, and every bottle sold directly to a visitor generates economic benefits that extend well beyond the winery,” he said. “By working together to attract more visitors and convert more of our locally grown grapes into locally sold wines, our growers, vintners and tourism partners are creating jobs, supporting small businesses and building a stronger economy for the entire Lodi community.”
Tourism generated $77.3 million in employee earnings, a 4.4% increase from 2024, and $7.2 million in local tax revenue, which will be allocated to city infrastructure, including roads, parks and public services.
Total tax revenue — including local and state collections — reached $22.5 million, up 9% from 2024.
Food service and accommodations businesses generated the largest share of tourism dollars at $37.6 million, followed by retail at $21.5 million and arts and entertainment at $16.7 million.
The sector also supported workforce growth. Food service and accommodations added 830 jobs, while arts and entertainment added 750 and retail added 490.
Visit Lodi Executive Director Wes Rhea said while the numbers are positive, spending increases are partly tied to higher prices for goods and services.
“Increased spending does not automatically mean the same percentage increase in actual visitors,” he said. “In Lodi’s case, though, we did see real growth in overnight visitation in 2025, and that is the part we are most encouraged by. Hotel demand was up more than 13%, which means more hotel rooms were booked than in any prior year. Some of that was helped by new hotel inventory that came online in 2024, but it is still a very positive sign.”
“Overall hotel room revenue was also up 7.6%, even as average hotel rates declined slightly, and short-term rentals saw about a 4% increase in demand,” he added. “So while pricing is definitely part of the visitor spending story, we also had more people staying here.”
Rhea said some of that momentum has continued into 2026, with hotel demand up 2.3% through May.
He added that while many businesses added workers in 2025, the growth should not be viewed as a hiring boom.
“Visitors help keep people working and, in some cases, give businesses a little more confidence to keep or add to their teams,” he said. “The positive thing is that those numbers are not going down, even as labor costs continue to increase.”