Downtown Seattle posted its busiest July on record, according to new data from the Downtown Seattle Association. The organization reported more than 3.7 million unique visitors, a 5% jump from last July and roughly 12% above 2019 levels, the last full summer before the pandemic reshaped how people work and spend their time. That figure comes from cellphone location data and doesn’t even capture international visitors, meaning the true number of people downtown in July was likely higher still.
A lot of that traffic lines up with the World Cup, which brought a wave of visitors to the city over the summer. Small business owners downtown felt the difference directly. Shops in and around Pike Place Market saw notably higher foot traffic in July, with some owners stating it was hard to tell how much came from tourists or World Cup visitors specifically. Regardless, some retailers called it the best July they’ve seen in years, crediting national TV coverage of Seattle during the tournament with drawing more people in, including locals.
Downtown’s low-cost attractions are also getting a lot of credit for pulling people back, particularly in a city where affordability remains a real concern for residents. The redeveloped waterfront, Olympic Sculpture Park, Centennial Park, and Pike Place Market itself all offer free or inexpensive ways to spend a day downtown, and car-free zones around Pike Place Market and Pioneer Square during the World Cup appear to have helped as well.
The optimism comes with a caveat, though. Much of this data was collected before the July 26 shooting at the Bite of Seattle festival, an incident that’s since raised fresh questions about safety at large downtown events.
Looking ahead to fall, when downtown traffic naturally decreases, there is interest in building on what worked over the summer, including ideas like organizing free watch parties or activities tied to major ticketed events, and expanding car-free zones for future gatherings, as ways to keep drawing people downtown even outside of major one-off events like the World Cup.
This post was based on information found on The Seattle Times.
