Tourism rebounding in the OKC, Tulsa metros

Saturday, March 26, 2022

Oklahoma City and Tulsa have been busy making sure new attractions, accommodations and opportunities will be available for visitors and locals.



Zac Craig, President of the Oklahoma City Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the future of tourism in Oklahoma’s metros is “looking pretty bright.”

OKC keeps growing

In 2021, Oklahoma City saw the opening of the new First Americans Museum, a long-awaited space that uses art and artifacts to tell the collective histories of Oklahoma’s 39 tribal nations.


Just down the road, Riversport Rapids, Oklahoma City’s $45.2 million whitewater rafting and kayaking center, unveiled a new indoor man-made ski hill and Surf OKC.

Thanks to the new convention center and the Omni Hotel Oklahoma City, dozens of attendee-packed conventions are slated for 2022.

Oklahoma City also is awaiting the opening of two new hotel properties in the downtown area. The new full-service 10-story Renaissance Hotel in Bricktown will open this spring.

The National is expected to open this spring as well, said Lindsay Vidrine, Vice President of Destination Marketing for Visit OKC.

The National will be in Oklahoma City’s 1936 First National Center and feature 146 rooms with art deco details and modern amenities.


The basement and ground floor will include a mixture of retail, commercial space and restaurants, while the Great Banking Hall will be used as a public and event space.

Oklahoma City’s long-awaited Myriad Gardens and Crystal Bridges renovations are slated to wrap up in 2022, and the lower section of the planned downtown green space Scissortail Park also will complete this year.

Even old favorites, like the glass exhibit at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, are getting a new look.

In March, the Oklahoma City Museum of Art closed off the Chihuly exhibit to renovate that area and put in a new bigger space with some of the Rose Family glass collection.

That will open in July, said Vidrine.

AAA is also teaming up with both Tulsa and Oklahoma City for the Route 66 Road Festival, a 10-day, two-weekend event featuring vintage cars, local musical acts and exhibits on the Mother Road set for June 18 and 19 in Oklahoma City and June 25 and 26 in Tulsa.


Since both our cities are on the route, people can explore both areas during those two weekends. The Fest will have some ancillary events happening throughout to encourage people to explore Route 66, said Vidrine.

Oklahoma City is well-positioned as a tourism destination, Craig said.


Our mix of convention, leisure, sports and equine tourism is a tremendous asset and one of the primary reasons we’ve been able to recover faster than many peer destinations, he said.

The Oklahoma City Convention & Visitors Bureau monitors hotel occupancy as a gauge for visitor demand and recovery.


While sectors of the travel industry continue to recover at different paces, Oklahoma City’s visitor economy overall has recovered to pre-pandemic levels.


Current fiscal year 2022 hotel tax collections are pacing to end the year at pre-pandemic levels, and Craig said the city expects FY23’s collections to exceed FY19, which was the last full pre-pandemic fiscal year.




Tulsa time

In May, the new Bob Dylan Center will open in Tulsa, celebrating one of America’s most influential and important artists.


The new center will give visitors unprecedented access to the creative life of folk legend Bob Dylan through previously unreleased recordings, handwritten lyric manuscripts, film performances, concert footage never seen before, previously unseen photographs and other items that reflect Dylan’s rise as one of the country’s most influential cultural figures.

Steve Higgins, Managing Director of the American Song Archives said that they’re just very fortunate to have something this special in Oklahoma, and it’s something that’s going to make Tulsa and Oklahoma very proud.

This encompasses both the Dylan and Woody Guthrie centers.

Tulsa’s new Discovery Lab opened to the public on Jan. 24. The 57,000-square-foot museum in The Gathering Place park is designed to bring science and learning to Tulsa’s children and families.

Turkey Mountain, Tulsa’s urban wilderness, will complete 14-16 miles of new trails in 2022 as well, opening more options for hikes, mountain bikers and horseback riders.


Private donors and public funds will be used to complete Phases 1 and 2 of trail renovations at Turkey Mountain by the end of 2022, said Ryan Howell with River Parks Authority. The new trail is being built with future generations in mind.

Also under construction in Tulsa are the USA BMX Arena, a $23 million project for both amateur riders and the pros, and the Oklahoma Museum of Popular Culture, which will be located across from Cain’s Ballroom in the Tulsa Arts District.

New Tulsa hotel properties expected this year include the Brut Hotel, an 82-unit former apartment building under construction to become a boutique hotel.

The $10 million hotel is estimated to have an early to mid-2022 reopening.

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