GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Brown County saw an increase in the economic impact of tourism in 2018.
“It continues to grow and we have seen that in the last three years.”
The numbers were released during a luncheon on Tuesday at the Hotel Northland in Downtown Green Bay.
“This year we saw a growth of 3.91 percent which brings us almost to 700 million in direct spending,” said Brad Toll, Green Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau President.
Toll says the $697 mullion dollars in direct spending puts Brown County in the top five out of all 72 Wisconsin counties.
“We are very proud to be number five in the State of Wisconsin as far as counties go.”
Toll added that they are close to those ahead of them.
“When you are looking at Wisconsin Dells, Door County, Milwaukee, and Madison, those are pretty big areas for tourism. I think a lot of times people do not realize that Green Bay is right there with them.”
In total sales, a record $1.15 billion tourism dollars flowed through the local economy. Toll says that is pretty remarkable considering Wisconsin as a whole had over $20 billion dollars in tourism dollars.
5.8 million people visited Brown County in 2018. The county had 2 million overnight visits and 3.85 million day visits.
“We have a tremendous draw for visitors with Lambeau Field, but now with Titletown growing, the expansion of our convention center and our new expo hall is going to add to those numbers in the future.”
Major renovations at five lodging properties brought an opportunity for upgraded visitor experience. The area saw an increase in the average daily room rate, and a cumulative two-year increase of 9 percent in room tax revenue. In 2018, the room tax revenue was up 4.7 percent from 2017.
“The state tax and local tax from room tax dollars were $97 million in 2018 and the Expo Hall cost is $93 million dollars and actually the majority of that building will be paid by the lodging tax from our visitors.”
He adds that when people stay, the area wins.
“80 percent of the room tax is used to pay the bonds on the Resch Center, the KI Convention Center and soon the Expo Hall. Visitors built those buildings for us.”
For money spent in Green Bay, Food and Beverage led the way at $166 million dollars which is a bit over 24 percent of the average visitor dollar spent in that category. Accommodations were second, followed by entertainment and retail.
The third quarter was a peak quarter for spending activity with $224 million dollars being spent between July and September.
The second quarter showed the strongest growth in visitor spending.
Brown County has 12,143 tourism industry-related jobs with an income of $468 million which is up $20 million from 2017.
Toll says things are on the right track for the 2019 report.
“First quarter was very good and 2020 is going to be phenomenal.”
The CVB’s Annual Report and the 2018 Year in Review video can be found here: https://www.greenbay.com/media/
