Tourism Spending in Wisconsin Grew at the Highest Rate in More Than Two Years in September

Wednesday, November 9th, 2022 -- 12:00 PM

Gov. Tony Evers, together with the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, announced that Wisconsin tourism spending grew in September at the highest rate in more than two years.

According to preliminary data released by the U.S. Travel Association and Tourism Economics, visitor spending in Wisconsin grew 5.9 percent in September 2022 compared to September 2019.

This was the largest gain of any month since the start of the coronavirus pandemic when compared to the same month in 2019, which was Wisconsin’s best year on record for visitor spending.

Since 2020, Gov. Evers has invested more than $1 billion of Wisconsin’s federal funds in economic resilience, including small businesses and other industries impacted by the pandemic, more than $200 million of which was invested in the travel and tourism, hotels and lodging, and entertainment industries alone.

A recent analysis of state allocations under the American Rescue Plan Act showed that, as a share of federal aid received by states, Wisconsin is the top state in the country for aid directed to overall economic development and the top state in the country in aid directed to assist businesses.

Additionally, according to USTA, Wisconsin also matched the national average of tourism spending for the month and outpaced most of its neighboring competitors, including Minnesota (-1), Illinois (+0.2), and Michigan (+5.3), when compared to themselves in 2019.

Economic impact data for 2021, released in June, showed tourism generated $20.9 billion in total economic impact, a 21 percent increase from 2020, and supported more than 169,000 full- and part-time jobs.

For more data, including individual county figures and year-over-year growth, visit industry.travelwisconsin.com.

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