After being cooped up during the pandemic, Americans were ready to get out and see the country in 2021. A recently-released report shows a lot of them came to Wisconsin and they brought a bunch of money with them.
Here’s Five Fast Facts about The Great Cheese Expansion:
- 🛥️Come Sail Away - The Wisconsin Department of Tourism is reporting big numbers, showing that vacationers brought in $20.9B in total economic impact. TWENTY. BILLION. DOLLARS. That’s an economic growth of 21% in all 72 counties AND 102.3 million trips.
- ✈️Leaving on a Jet Plane - Those tourists liked to spend, bringing in $1.4B in state and local taxes. That is bonkers.
- ⛱️Vacation- They created jobs, too. We’re talking 169,700 full and part time, up 7% from 2020.
- 🚗Holiday Road - Sports helped a bunch, with people coming to see the Bucks in the NBA Finals and the Ryder Cup in Sheboygan County.
- 👪 Island in the Sun - Surprisingly, we’re still not back to pre-pandemic levels: 2019 was our best year ever for tourism with a $22.2B economic impact. WDT is banking on a bigger 2022, spending big for its latest Tour Wisconsin campaign.
🔥Bottom line: To say this is big is like saying Vince Lombardi was just a coach. Tourism touched every county in the state, putting us in an incredibly profitable position. The numbers don’t lie: people were drawn to Wisconsin pre-pandemic and they still want to come (or even come back). As long as they don’t trash the place, they (and their money) are always welcome
What do you think of these numbers? Let us know by connecting with us on Social Media and be sure to share this newsletter with any friends & coworkers!
