Tourism is up in Wisconsin and Milwaukee is bringing in a lion's share of money
They're celebrating at Visit Milwaukee, alright!
The latest tourism numbers show more and more folks seek out a visit to Southeast Wisconsin, generating some $5 billion in revenue from Milwaukee alone.
That's about 20% of total tourism dollars for the state.
Kristen Settle of Visit Milwaukee was a special live guest Friday on the CBS 58 News at 4.
She says the tourism industry is responsible for some 51,000 local jobs.
She also pointed out that many of the numbers were generated by convention traffic.
The numbers are adding excitement to Visit Milwaukee's 50th anniversary celebration this year.
Here are the details in tourism In 2016:
Total economic impact of tourism in Milwaukee = $3.45B
Total economic impact of tourism in Greater Milwaukee (4-county) Area = $5.25B
Full-time jobs generated by tourism in Milwaukee = 32,000
Full-time jobs generated by tourism in GMA = 51,000
Total labor income related to tourism in Milwaukee = $1.1B
Total Labor income related to tourism in GMA = $1.6B
Tax receipts generated by tourism in Milwaukee = $231M
Tax receipts generated by tourism in GMA = $350M
Visitors to Milwaukee spent $3B in 2016 at hotels, restaurants, attractions, events, retailers, and businesses
Milwaukee welcomes 22.5M visitors each year
Milwaukee is Wisconsin’s largest tourism market, representing 20% of the state’s total tourism revenue