Montana's Tourists Now Older, Richer, and More Confused by the Altitude
A new report from the Montana Office of Tourism and Business Development has confirmed a trend visible to anyone who has stood in line at a Bozeman coffee shop recently: the state’s tourists are getting older, wealthier, and fewer in number, a demographic shift one local business owner described as “the same number of dollars attached to fewer, slower-moving people.”
Overall visitor counts dipped in 2025, continuing a post-pandemic correction that has quietly alarmed chambers of commerce across the state. But spending per visitor rose, suggesting that while fewer people are coming to Montana, the ones who do are arriving with considerably more money and considerably less interest in camping.