Wisconsin Sees Fast Recovery in Tourism Sector, But Not All Sectors Where They Should Be

Saturday, February 25th, 2023 -- 11:00 AM

(By Gaby Vinick, Wisconsin Public Radio) Wisconsin's tourism industry has seen a fast recovery from the pandemic compared to other states.

But, according to Gaby Vinick with Wisconsin Public Radio, many sectors are not yet where they should be, leaders said at the Senate Committee of Agriculture and Tourism's public hearing earlier this month

"We know that we're not back to where we need to be yet. And we all know there continues to be some pain points for a lot of important sectors," said Anne Sayers, secretary-designee of the state Department of Tourism.  "Restaurants and hotels and other businesses, the arts, business travel, meetings and conventions all continue to lag," Sayers said.

Yet Sayers said Wisconsin has performed much better than its neighboring states. Craig Trost, the communications director for the state Department of Tourism, pointed to preliminary findings from the U.S. Travel Association and its collaboration with Tourism Economics.

Trost said the state is "recovering faster than the average state tourism." Sayers said that there are hurdles ahead for the industry, but "I know we're on a path to soon match and surpass a record year of 2019." 

That year, the state Department of Tourism created the Office of Outdoor Recreation. Sayers said that outdoor recreation economy contributions to Wisconsin's GDP rose from $7.8 billion in 2020 to $8.7 billion in 2021.

"That means that the outdoor recreation economy is actually growing at a rate three times faster than the state's GDP," Sayers said. She said despite the pandemic, tourism generated nearly $21 billion in 2021.

The sector supported more than 169,000 jobs and drew more than 102.3 million visitors, she added. Tourism economic data for 2022 will not be available until June, according to the department

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