In May 2021, D.C.’s leaders looked toward the future optimistically. COVID-19 cases were plummeting after a devastating winter surge. The regional vaccine rollout, once beleagured by technical and logistical nightmares, had smoothed out. City officials, announcing the end of the year-long COVID restrictions on restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues, signaled a return to normal that they hoped would revive D.C.’s once-thriving tourism and travel industry.

New data shows, however, that the city’s recovery hasn’t completely lived up to last year’s expectations.

“D.C.’s tourism industry recovery is underway, as domestic visitation outpaced our initial forecast, but visitor spending and jobs created through tourism are not recovering as quickly,” said Elliott Ferguson, the president and CEO of Destination DC, a private corporation supporting the city’s tourism and travel industry, in a press release.

While D.C. saw 18.8 million domestic visitors in 2021, surpassing the forecasted 14 to 15 million visitors Destination DC expected to see, those visitors aren’t spending as much as they did pre-pandemic. Visitors spent $5.4 billion in 2021 — an increase of around 45% from 2020, but down 34% from 2019. Ferguson attributed this, in part, to people’s financial constraints after the pandemic. But Destination DC also focused some of its 2021 advertising on people who lived within a 4-hour drive of the city, meaning more day trips and fewer extended stays that required hotel lodging.

Speaking at D.C.’s annual Travel Rally on Wednesday morning with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and other hospitality officials, Ferguson focused on continuing the economic rebound in 2022 — highlighting upcoming events like this weekend’s Broccoli City Festival (returning for the first time since the pandemic started), Pharrell Williams’ Something in the Water festival in June, and the DC Jazz Festival in September. The city is also reupping the $2.5 million advertising campaign launched last year, dubbed Experience DC, that will target potential travelers based on what they’re most likely to be interested in.

“We focus on culture, we focus on food, history, family members, these which the data tells us that folks are looking for as they’re choosing where they’re going to go as a destination,” Ferguson said at the press conference.

2019 was a banner year for tourism in D.C. The city brought in 22.8 million domestic visitors and 24.6 million total, marking nine consecutive years of growth — and those visitors spent a record-setting $8.15 billion in the city. But coronavirus shutdowns, travel restrictions, and major event cancellations in 2020 and 2021 blew all of that up, and the city lost millions in revenue.

While 2021 did see the return of some of D.C.’s hallmark events — a presidential inauguration, the Cherry Blossom Festival, and the notorious Middle School Field Trip — Ferguson says international tourism is lagging, and it may take years to recover. D.C. typically sees fewer international travelers than domestic each year, but international travelers tend to spend more money during their time in D.C.

According to Chris Thompson, the CEO of Brand USA, a public-private partnership aimed at boosting international travel to the U.S.,  international tourism numbers in the U.S. might not rebound to 2019 levels until 2025.

“We’re starting to see a return in connectivity, meaning flights that were either eliminated or service [that was] scaled back are brought back. And we’re starting to see consumer confidence rebound,” Thompson said.

With capacity restrictions lifted and mask mandates largely a thing of the past, hospitality leaders — and especially the hotel industry — are looking to D.C.’s convention scene to bring in more travelers and revenue in 2022. This year, there are 19 citywide conventions planned, bringing an estimated 394,000 total room nights and more than $265 million, according to Destination DC. In 2019, lodging made up the largest share of tourism revenue, making the city $2.9 billion.

For her part, Bowser remained optimistic on Wednesday, repeating the refrain (and hashtag) that officials have pushed over the past year: “D.C. is open.”

“There’s reason for optimism. And the reason is: D.C. is open,” Bowser said. ” We know that the last two years have been unprecedented and unpredictable, but we have been rolling with it, responding to it, fighting it and winning, and I can’t wait to welcome more people to my hometown, the best city in the world.”