Sluggish bookings and sponsor pullbacks cloud WorldPride DC 2025

With just ten days until WorldPride DC 2025 opens on Saturday, 17 May, hotel room bookings in the downtown core peak at 86.3 percent on 13 May but fall below 50 percent on most festival days, according to CoStar Group data. Organizers had forecast as many as two million overnight visitors and a $680 million economic impact when DC was chosen in 2022, but current trends have fallen short of those projections, as reported by the Washington Business Journal.

Meade Atkeson, area general manager for Sonesta Hotels, said weekend demand is “picking up slowly,” noting reservations could rise before marquee events such as the Welcome Ceremony and Concert at Nationals Park featuring Shakira. However, several major sponsors, including Booz Allen Hamilton and Deloitte, have pulled back following the Trump administration’s executive order targeting DEI programs.

Ryan Bos, executive director of Capital Pride Alliance, said organizers slashed the budget from up to $20 million to as little as $10 million but remain hopeful that domestic and last-minute international travelers will boost attendance. Safety warnings issued to transgender attendees and venue shifts—including moving the main Street Festival from the National Mall to Pennsylvania Avenue—have added to uncertainty.

Elliott Ferguson, president of Destination DC, and Mayor Muriel Bowser have launched campaigns abroad and locally to reassure LGBTQ visitors that the district remains welcoming. Promotional efforts include pride wraps and selfie stations at Reagan National and Dulles airports.

Despite challenges, Bos emphasized Pride’s importance amid a national atmosphere of policy-driven “threats to our rights, our freedoms, the threats to our own existence.”