A new report shows tourist attractions and tourism-related businesses were busier than ever last year. (local information & links to detailed report included)
“This is the second consecutive year we’ve topped $8 billion in tourism-related expenditures,” Jessica O’Riley, the spokesperson for the Iowa Tourism Office said.
Low gas prices are getting much of the credit. The annual study is conducted by the U.S. Travel Association. It shows tourism-related expenditures in Iowa in 2015 totaled $8.06 billion.
“State tax receipts topped a record $466.7 million. That’s a 25 percent increase over 2014,” O’Riley said. The large increase in state tax receipts was fueled by a 10 cent per gallon hike in the gas tax that took effect last year. O’Riley noted there are indications more people are making plans to travel to Iowa.
“We saw an increase on traveliowa.com, user sessions set a record at almost 1.3 million, and requests for our travel guide were up almost 20 percent,” O’Riley said. The report indicates tourism in Iowa supported 67,400 jobs, comprising 4.2 percent of total non-farm employment in 2015.
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Expenditures in Clinton County ranked 14th in the state at 116-million dollars. That spending was down slightly from 2014 in the county.
The tourism spending generated one-and a half million dollars in various local taxes. Tourism spending also generated about 16 million dollars in local payroll and over 900 jobs.
Polk, Linn, Scott, Johnson and Blackhawk counties were the top in tourism spending collecting a total of about 4-billion dollars in revenue – about half the statewide total.
