Route 66 Centennial Passport Launches to Boost Gallup, McKinley County Tourism

Travelers can now collect passport stickers at participating businesses and attractions along the Mother Road after New Mexico rolled out a Route 66 centennial passport program on Jan. 15, 2026. The year-long initiative includes Gallup as one of the featured Route 66 communities and aims to drive visitation and spending at small businesses along the highway.

The passport works like a sticker-collection scavenger hunt: visitors stop at participating sites, pick up a sticker, and complete pages in a passport-style booklet. Organizers designed the program to encourage motorists to visit multiple towns and attractions rather than passing straight through, creating more customer traffic for diners, shops, museums, and lodging in McKinley County and beyond. Gallup’s stretch of Route 66 is explicitly listed among participating communities, putting the city on the centennial map for travelers seeking authentic Mother Road stops.

Local economic implications are straightforward. Heritage and road-trip tourism tends to concentrate spending at roadside concessions, souvenir retailers, and locally owned restaurants. For Gallup and surrounding McKinley County communities, the passport could translate to higher foot traffic on main corridors and incremental sales that matter most to small operators. Because the program runs for a year, it also offers a chance to smooth seasonal peaks by promoting off-peak visits through special events and themed driving itineraries.

State-level coordination of the passport program creates marketing scale that smaller jurisdictions often lack. A statewide campaign can attract longer-distance visitors who might otherwise bypass New Mexico’s Route 66 segments. For local policymakers and business groups, the immediate task will be converting one-time passport users into repeat customers by improving visitor services, signage, and digital discovery. Metrics to watch include local sales tax receipts, lodging occupancy rates, and counts of passport completions at Gallup businesses.

Longer-term effects depend on how well the centennial moment is leveraged. If businesses invest a share of incremental revenue into staff, hours of operation, and market-ready products, the community could see durable gains in visibility and visitor spending. Conversely, if participation is uneven or concentrated only in a few high-profile stops, benefits may be short-lived.

For McKinley County residents, the passport is more than a tourist gimmick: it is a practical tool to channel curiosity and spending into downtown storefronts, trading posts, and cultural sites along Route 66. Expect local events and promotions tied to the centennial in coming months as organizers and businesses try to maximize the Mother Road’s anniversary.