National Travel and Tourism Week (May 4-10, 2025) has kicked off, shining a spotlight on the importance of the $2.9 trillion travel industry.
“Travel is one of our nation’s most powerful economic engines—supporting millions of jobs, fueling businesses and propelling industries forward,” said U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman. “National Travel and Tourism Week reinforces the pivotal role travel plays in building a stronger, more prosperous America.”
Delaware North is in a unique position to appreciate and celebrate this. We’re a hospitality and entertainment company operating at nearly 200 locations where travelers are often a significant portion of our customers or even our main customers.
We see firsthand that travel and tourism is vital –for cities with great cultural attractions and sports and entertainment venues, as well as for small towns near national parks or on oceans and lakes.
Our Parks and Resorts division welcomes millions of travelers to destinations that include national parks such as Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and Yosemite, Niagara Falls State Park in New York and The Lodge at Geneva-on-the-Lake in Ohio, which welcomes visitors to Ohio’s wine country. We also operate outdoor recreation and adventure tours in several locations, including Yellowstone and Camp Hale in Colorado. All of these regions depend on the flow of tourists to fuel their fragile economies.
This division also operates all aspects of Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida for NASA, welcoming millions of visitors to the Orlando area to experience everything from space-flown artifacts, such as Space Shuttle Atlantis, to interactive exhibits and meeting real astronauts.
Patina Group, our premium lifestyle division, operates destination restaurants for Disney in both Florida and California, as well as in museums, cultural centers and near sports and entertainment districts in Los Angeles, New York and Boston.
Delaware North Sportservice operates food, beverage and retail services at more than 50 stadiums, ballparks and arenas, where we see that major sporting events are becoming popular travel destinations. We just served many of the 600,000 people who attended the NFL draft in Green Bay, a large portion of them from outside the area.
The company’s TD Garden in Boston attracts visitors from outside the area for Bruins and Celtics games, as well as concerts and other special events. It hosted the final games of the NHL’s highly successful 4 Nations Face-Off in February, drawing thousands of Canadians and other international visitors to Boston.
Our Gaming division features superregional casinos and other gaming venues that often welcome guests traveling to destinations such as Daytona Beach, Fla., New York’s Finger Lakes and Memphis, Tenn.
Many of our locations also host destination weddings, another aspect of ensuring travelers have memorable experiences.
And then there’s our Travel division, which helps travelers make it to their destinations by operating restaurants and stores at more than 25 airports across the U.S.
In all of these locations, we partner with clients such as the National Park Service, NASA, airport authorities, local tourism promotion organizations, small businesses that operate recreation and tours, and major sports clients to welcome guests that often have traveled hundreds of miles or more.
We congratulate the U.S. Travel Association for shining the spotlight on the importance of travel to our nation and we are excited to continue creating memorable experiences for guests across our operations.