OHIO — Ohio is in for an eventful year.

What You Need To Know

  • Cleveland is expecting at least five major events which will bring in around 250,000 visitors

  • Columbus will host various major sporting events this year

  • Cincinnati will see the return of major music festivals and more this year

A wide variety of events are coming to the state this year. Tourism brings billions of dollars to the state every year, and this year the state's biggest cities are expected to benefit. Columbus is preparing to host the U.S. National Figure Skating Competition at the end of the month. While the Greater Columbus Sports Commission has taken the lead on the event, they say that it’s been key to collaborate with other organizations so the whole community can take part in the event.  

“One of the costumes is being designed by local students and alumni of the Columbus College of Art and Design,” said Linda Logan who serves as the Chief Executive of the Greater Columbus Sports Commission. “The Columbus Symphony is going to be performing live with some of the skating. We've got our library systems involved and so we're just excited at just the reach of this event.”

Columbus isn’t the only one getting big events. Black Tech Week will be held this summer in Cincinnati along with the return of the Cincinnati Music Festival. 

Cleveland will also host at least five major events in 2024, including the NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four and the Pan-American Master’s Event. Tourism experts say the successful run of events this year could be attributed to the revitalization efforts the city has made downtown.  

“I think we would definitely have a much harder time luring these big events to Cleveland,” said Emily Lauer who serves as the Vice President of PR and Communications at Destination Cleveland. “It's really downtown revitalization that is so, so important to our efforts to attract meetings and conventions and big events.”

The number of events partnered with the overall growth of the state could call for city leaders to adjust things like traffic patterns, social programming, and more. Logan said that as cities continue to expand, it’s important to address obstacles head on. 

“There is probably some opportunity to learn about what growing pains could look like as we continue to get more people to move here, as more businesses want to relocate here.” said Logan. “Those are all things that are being addressed at a very high level.”

While 2024 has just begun, city and state governments have already begun working on future events through 2030.

“It's not too soon to be laying the groundwork for events that we hope will be here in the next few years. So think of us as the prospectors, right? We deal in the future and the future is very bright for Ohio.”

Tourism in Ohio is a $53 billion industry and generated $4.1 billion  in local and state tax revenue in 2021. The money often gets redistributed to support teachers, build infrastructure and invest in various social services.