Travel + Leisure Names Detroit Most Underrated
Detroit was named the "most underrated city everyone should visit" by Travel + Leisure, with the city's resurgence reflected in a surge in US travel demand. Battle Creek joins Dearborn, Detroit, Flint, Kalamazoo, Lincoln Park, and Pontiac among Michigan cities leading the travel boom. The recognition highlights Detroit's cultural transformation and urban renewal efforts.
This isn't the first time Detroit has been in the spotlight; travel guide publisher Lonely Planet named the Motor City the No. 2 city in the world to visit back in 2018. The latest accolades build on years of growing momentum, with publications like The New York Times and TIME also recently recognizing Detroit's revival. The city's skyline is rapidly changing, driven by major investments. Bedrock's Hudson's Detroit development is transforming a long-vacant site into a 1.5 million-square-foot hub of retail, office space, and a five-star hotel set to open in 2027. This project is accompanied by Ford's redevelopment of the historic Michigan Central station into a global mobility innovation district. A massive hotel boom is underway to accommodate the influx of visitors, with 1,200 new rooms expected to come online in 2025 alone. Major openings include the 600-room JW Marriott connected to the Huntington Place convention center and the 227-room luxury Detroit EDITION Hotel, both anticipated in 2027. Beyond downtown, large-scale projects are reshaping the city. The Gordie Howe International Bridge, the first new international border crossing with Canada in decades, is slated to open in the fall of 2025. Additionally, Henry Ford Health is undertaking a $3 billion expansion in the New Center neighborhood, featuring a new hospital tower and a research center with Michigan State University. The city's entertainment and public spaces are also expanding. A new 15,000-seat stadium for the Detroit City Football Club is planned for a 2027 opening in Corktown. Meanwhile, the transformation of the Detroit Riverwalk continues with the development of the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Centennial Park. This wave of development follows a significant turnaround. In the decade from the first quarter of 2014 to the first quarter of 2020, downtown Detroit's office vacancy rate plummeted from 14.1% to just 5.7%, signaling a major return of business to the city's core. The recent recognition is backed by strong visitor numbers. In 2022, the region welcomed over 16.5 million people, contributing $9.2 billion to the local economy. Projections for 2025 showed continued growth, with nearly 31 million visits to the downtown area.
