A new Welcome Center opened Tuesday inside Terminal A's baggage claim area at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, giving travelers a dedicated stop for Maryland tourism tips right next to the Starbucks. Travelers celebrated the opening, which puts local artwork, 24-hour digital kiosks and on-site staff in front of one of the region's busiest arrival points.
The Welcome Center by Visit Annapolis and Anne Arundel County sits in the Terminal A baggage claim area near Starbucks, according to WBAL-TV. The outlet reports the space serves as a gateway to local attractions for approximately 25 million travelers who pass through BWI-Marshall each year. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was also planned for Tuesday at 10 a.m. to mark the official opening, as Patch reported ahead of the launch, with the ceremony expected to take place in that same Terminal A baggage claim area.
What Travelers Will Find Inside
The center features artwork from Anne Arundel County artists alongside 24-hour interactive destination information kiosks, the station's report notes. Visitors can also get recommendations from what officials call destination experience associates. Per the same account, officials said the center blends local culture, technology and personalized service to support different travel-planning preferences, whether someone wants to browse a screen solo or ask a staffer for suggestions.
Earlier planning materials from Visit Annapolis & Anne Arundel County described the forthcoming center as something that would greet 27 million passengers a year and connect them to experiences across Annapolis, the county and the state, according to TheBayNet. That figure differs from the approximately 25 million yearly travelers cited around the opening and from BWI Marshall's own count of more than 25.2 million passengers in 2025, per the airport's press kit. The dossier does not explain the discrepancy between those figures.
Why Airport Officials See a Tourism Payoff
BWI Marshall Airport, which is owned and operated by the Maryland Department of Transportation's Maryland Aviation Administration, averages 69,000 passengers a day and is served by fourteen airlines offering nonstop flights to roughly 90 domestic and international destinations, according to the airport's press kit. That scale is part of why Visit Annapolis & Anne Arundel County has framed the Welcome Center as more than a visitor amenity, describing it as an investment that strengthens Maryland's tourism infrastructure and positions the center as the state's front door and a gateway to regional economic impact, TheBayNet reported.
The stakes behind that framing show up in the county's own tourism numbers. Anne Arundel County welcomed more than 7.2 million visitors in 2025, generating $4.3 billion in economic impact, according to a separate TheBayNet report. That spending supported 26,595 direct and indirect jobs and produced $856.3 million in tax revenue within the county last year. The same report put Anne Arundel County's share of Maryland's overall visitor spending at more than 20 percent of the state's $21.2 billion total.
A Bigger Bet on Airport Tourism
The 2025 totals build on a similar trend the year before, when Anne Arundel County welcomed 7.2 million visitors in 2024 who generated $4.3 billion in spending and supported 27,258 hospitality jobs, per TheBayNet's tourism week coverage. Placing a staffed, art-filled welcome point inside one of the busiest airports in the National Capital region gives county tourism officials a direct line to that traffic the moment travelers land.
