Halloween Day Visitors Up 7.2% as Salem Sustains Record October Tourism Levels

Destination Salem announced today that Halloween Day 2025 brought 96,600 visitors to downtown Salem, a 7.2% increase over 2024, capping another strong October for the city’s globally renowned Haunted Happenings season.

Throughout October, downtown Salem welcomed 1.1 million unique visitors, holding steady with last year’s record-setting total. The number of total visits, measuring each 24-hour period spent in Salem, reached 1.4 million, down slightly by 6.3% from 2024, reflecting the impact of nine rainy days during the month. Data is provided via Placer.ai, sponsored by The Salem Witch Museum.

“Salem’s ability to sustain more than one million visitors every October for six consecutive years underscores the city’s lasting appeal and the strength of our visitor experience,” said Ashley Judge, Executive Director of Destination Salem. “Even with nine rainy days this year, Halloween Day visitation rose sharply, showing that people are still eager to celebrate in Salem regardless of the forecast. We continue to see travelers planning ahead, staying longer, and engaging more deeply with the city’s arts, culture, and hospitality community.”

Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo commented, “I’m incredibly grateful to the City staff, our businesses and partner organizations, and, of course, the residents of Salem, for helping us again have a safe and successful October season. Welcoming over a million people to our community over the course of a month is no small feat, but thanks to the hard work and thoughtful planning of many, we were able to do so again this year. We’re already at work reviewing how we can continue to improve October management, to keep Salem vibrant and magical, and to continue being able to share our many stories with the world.”

Overall Visitation to Salem

Halloween Day:
Downtown Visitors: 96.6K, up 7.2% from 2024

Just October:
Downtown Visitors: 1.1M, level with 2024
Downtown Visits: 1.4M, down 6.3% from 2024

April – October:
Downtown Visitors: 2.7M, down 1.8% from 2024.
Downtown Visits: 5.6M, up 1.1% from 2024

In this data, a “visitor” represents a unique individual, while a “visit” measures each 24-hour period that person spent in Salem. One visitor can generate multiple visits if they returned on different days.

Six Years of Sustained October Strength

October visitation has remained remarkably strong since 2021, positioning Salem among the few U.S. destinations able to consistently attract over one million visitors in a single month.

October 2019: 782K visitors | 1.1M visits
October 2020: 445K visitors | 660K visits
October 2021: 993K visitors | 1.4M visits
October 2022: 1.0M visitors | 1.5M visits
October 2023: 1.0M visitors | 1.4M visits
October 2024: 1.1M visitors | 1.5M visits
October 2025: 1.1M visitors | 1.4M visits

(Data is provided via Placer.ai, sponsored by The Salem Witch Museum.)

The modest decline in repeat visits this October is attributed to weather impacts, particularly on weekends, yet overall visitation levels remain well above pre-2020 benchmarks.

While October 2024 saw no measurable rain, October 2025 brought nine rainy days, including several weekends, which affected spontaneous day trips and ferry service. According to Captain Bill McHugh, City of Salem Harbormaster and Director of the Salem Harbor Port Authority, ferry operations faced significant weather-related disruptions. Nine full-service days for the 600-passenger vessel were canceled, and the smaller 400-passenger Hingham boat operated only three of its planned five service days.

Despite these challenges, Salem’s October tourism held strong, reinforcing the city’s reputation as one of America’s most resilient and distinctive destinations for cultural tourism.