While Montana saw fewer tourists in 2025, they came with more gray hair — and more dollars for Montana businesses.
That’s according to visitor surveys conducted by the University of Montana’s Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research, presented by economist Melissa Weddell at a seminar organized in Helena Tuesday by the university’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research.
According to Weddell’s figures, the number of people who visited Montana last year declined by 3.6% to 13.8 million compared to 2024. However, nonresident spending in Montana jumped 12% to an estimated $5.6 billion.
“Less visitors, more spending — I think that’s what we like to hear,” Weddell said.
In addition to dropping more money in Montana, last year’s tourists reported having more to spend than visitors did before the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, about 43% of visitors reported more than $100,000 in annual income. In 2025, that percentage grew to 55%.
Tourists are also getting older. The most common age bracket for visitors in 2019 was 60 to 65 but is now between 65 and 69, according to the tourism institute figures.
Freight and passenger traffic across Montana’s northern border fell sharply in the first 11 months of 2025, with commercial freight seeing the sharpest decline for comparable periods in at least 30 years. The number of inbound people crossing also saw the steepest year-over-year percentage declines of recent decades outside of the COVID-19 pandemic.by Jacob Olness01.22.2026
“We’re seeing a higher age category of visitors and more luxury travel,” Weddell said.
Visitors spent less money on where they stayed and more on activities, with an 11% dip on lodging spending offset by a 120% increase in spending on outfitters and guides.
Weddell said the trend reflects an increase in luxury-seeking tourists who “want to go out for an experience,” like flyfishing or overnight hiking. Weddell pointed to research from the Outdoor Industry Association, which indicates people older than 65 have more than doubled their participation in outside sports in the last decade.
Weddell also noted that the state saw declining tourism from Canada, a trend that other experts have attributed to the Trump administration’s trade disputes.
About 74,200 Montanans, roughly 13% of the state’s workforce, worked in hospitality and recreation in 2024, according to the Montana Department of Labor and Industry. Between 2020 and 2024, the leisure industry was the third-fastest growing, adding an average of 1,200 jobs annually.
This story was originally published by Montana Free Press at montanafreepress.org.
