The 2026 World Cup will be the biggest edition of the famous international soccer tournament, as it is expanding to 48 teams. The USA will co-host the tournament alongside Canada and Mexico, with fixtures spread out across North America in the summer of 2026. Fans from across the world will be descending on places like Dallas, Seattle, New York and Miami to get a taste of the action.

The World Cup isn’t just a festival of football; it’s also a massive tourism boost for the countries that get the honour of hosting it. Tourism economics are huge with the World Cup, which will provide a significant lift to the hospitality industry, which has seen only a slow rate of growth in the last few years. The US hosts the majority of the 2026 World Cup matches, so will, therefore, receive the largest travel and hospitality sector windfalls.

The much-anticipated new World Cup

The new World Cup format means more teams and more games being played, and for the first time ever, a seeded draw format. It is going to provide plenty of intrigue and entertainment, and it will also produce a rise in sports betting interest. Fans who already follow football betting odds during regular domestic competitions will hardly ignore the World Cup when it comes around.

While the sports betting industry will see a clear uplift from the World Cup, so too will the hospitality industry. It’s estimated that the tournament will generate around $30.5 billion in economic output in the USA and create more than 185,000 jobs. Part of that will come from expected “surge pricing”, where hotels, for example, will raise their prices across June and July 2026 because of the phenomenal demand.

The “World Cup effect” is a huge boost for a country, but which of the US cities are likely to benefit the most from it?

Dallas/Arlington (AT&T Stadium)

What sets Dallas apart is that it’s not quite the traditional tourist city that people head to. But the city will see a huge influx of people for the World Cup, as it hosts nine matches in total, more than any other city. Dallas/Arlington gets a high-stakes semi-final, and while the city already has one of the busiest airports in the world, next summer, it’s going to get even busier.

New York/New Jersey (MetLife Stadium)

New York hosts the World Cup Final, and the “Big Apple” is going to get a phenomenal influx of travellers next summer. New York already has massive appeal and is a popular international travel hub, and that’s likely to translate into World Cup visitors sticking around the city, well after the final whistle has blown on a match, just to get that experience of the US’s most iconic city.

Los Angeles

LA, another of the prominent cities, already draws millions of international visitors every year. But LA gets the boost of hosting the USA’s opening fixture in the tournament, along with a host of games in the knockout stages. LA is expecting the economic impact from the World Cup to be two-thirds greater than what the 2022 Super Bowl brought.

Luck of the draw

Cities that are hosting matches in the latter stage of the knockouts, like Miami and Atlanta, are naturally going to benefit. But to what degree will likely depend on the draw of who gets there, as teams like Brazil, England and France typically have higher spending fan bases at major soccer tournaments.

These are dedicated travelling supporters who can turn a visit to a city to see one match into a week-long vacation, or longer. That translates to a huge amount of money being spent on things like tourism at local attractions, retail and dining. A city missing out on one of the major teams could mean restricted revenue.

Economic success

The 2026 World Cup has a total of 104 matches, and the distribution of those games is USA – 78, Mexico – 13, Canada – 13. The US has a total of 11 host cities, and while there have been concerns by fans over the expected extreme heat and ticket prices, the 2026 World Cup is projected to produce the biggest tourism spike for a single event since the hosting of the 1996 Olympic Games.