UFO Museum major Roswell attraction

The International UFO Museum and Research Center in downtown Roswell features a park at the city's major highway intersection.

Roswell is fortunate to have two of the largest tourism draws — one old and one new — in the Southwest.

The National Championship Air Races in Roswell, which moved from Reno to New Mexico, expects to attract 75,000-80,000 people during its Sept. 16-20 run.

This will be the second year the air races have been held in Roswell.

The other and older major draw is the International UFO Museum and Research Center, which last year attracted 191,566 visitors.

Typically, the UFO Museum attracts 245,000 visitors annually, though this figure fluctuates, usually with gasoline prices.

While attendance in 2025 was down around 7 percent from the previous year, the number of visitors was up in April and May to 13,811 and 16,013, respectively.

This is pretty normal in the tourism trade, which relies on regional visitors who usually drive to museums.

The New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs reports its properties showed a decline last year, reflecting a “national trend of declining museum attendance in 2025.”

Among the department’s museums are the N.M. History Museum, the N.M. Museum of Art, the Museum of International Folk Art, and the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, all in Santa Fe.

The Department of Cultural Affairs also operates the N.M. Museum of Space History in Alamogordo, the N.M. Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces, and the N.M. Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque.

For decades, Roswell’s UFO Museum has usually ranked as the most-visited museum in New Mexico. That comparison is difficult to make now, as the Department of Cultural Affairs recently reported, “No official 2025 attendance figure for all New Mexico state museums is available.”

The UFO Museum, which started out displaying pieces of paper thumbtacked to the walls in a storefront, now occupies a one-block site in downtown Roswell.

The site includes the museum and theater, one of the world’s largest libraries on the UFO phenomenon, several parking areas, and a park.

The UFO Museum has also spawned the Roswell UFO Festival, which this year will run July 2-4.

John Quiñones, ABC News correspondent who reports for Good Morning America, was part of a live sequence this month from Roswell. He is shown at the UFO Museum with Cat Martinez (left), assistant director, and Karen Jaramillo, Museum director.