After the pandemic and the economic crisis that followed, governments, sectors, businesses, and regulators have pointed out cannabis tourism as a driver of economic development. According to a report featured in Forbes by journalists Will Yakowicz and Susan Rowan Kelleher, the potential of cannabis tourism has grown to $17 billion. Forbes estimated that out of the $25 billion legal cannabis sales in 2021, about $4.5 billion was driven by tourists, who also brought an additional $12.6 billion into retail and taxes.
The founder and chief economist at Whitney Economics, Beau Whitney, told Forbes that there is a multiplier effect for every dollar spent at a cannabis retailer, as an additional $2.80 will be injected into the local economy. For example, cannabis growers have incorporated cannabis-related tourist attractions into their cannabis farms in California. In Mendocino County, popular cannabis farms have tours such as Emerald Farm Tours and the Mendocino Experience, where a staff of cannabis connoisseurs educate the tourists about the plants’ benefits and active ingredients, terroir, local farming traditions and geology.
The co-founder of Emerald Farm Tours, Victor Pinho, explained that customers often spend around $300 to $400 at the dispensary by saying, “They are tourists, and they are shopping – they are here to spend money in the mecca of weed.”
The offer of cannabis-related health products and services has skyrocketed, increasing the demand for therapies and treatments based on natural products and medications. According to the World Wellness Institute, wellness tourists spend about 50% more than the average international tourist and 178% more than a normal domestic tourist. With wellness tourism projected to reach about $919 billion, the sector will represent 18% of the world tourism market.
In an MMGY study conducted in 2020, 62% of American adult travelers with an annual income of $50,000 were interested in cannabis experiences while traveling. The founder of Cannabis Travel Association International, Brian Applegarth, predicts that aging millennials will foster cannabis tourism.
He said, “By 2025, 50% of travelers in the U.S. are going to be millennials, and their relationship to cannabis consumption is extremely normalized compared to stigmatized industry leaders of today.”
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