Jeff Smith - Tourism Brings Home the Bacon

You know the feeling. The car is loaded up. The cooler is packed. The kids are buckled up and you are backing out of the driveway for that long-awaited vacation. Where are you headed? It doesn’t matter. You’re hitting the road and every moment after that is an adventure filled with new memories with your family. These are the moments during the year we live for, and what better place to go out and play than in our own backyard right here in Wisconsin. 

Tourism, and every business associated with it, is not just a boon for our small towns – it creates opportunities for families to reconnect and, if you’re lucky, there are some moments along the way that just might last a lifetime. Whether traveling on a shoe-string or a lavish trip, every dollar spent on Wisconsin tourism makes a big impact for our state.  

In fact, Wisconsin has reason to celebrate our tourism yet again. I don’t like getting into the weeds with statistics typically, but I think it’s worth noting some of the key highlights I took away from reading the Department of Tourism economic report (here) for 2023. 

While 2022 saw record increases in spending in Wisconsin after COVID put the brakes on our usual travel plans, 2023 came over-the-top and smashed all previous records with over $25 billion (with a B) in revenue. That’s almost 6% more than the prior year and that increase is good news for thousands of workers across the state. 

According to the report, tourism alone generated 127,000 jobs across the state and $6.8 billion in income for those workers. Locally, here in Eau Claire County alone, tourism generated $434 million in revenue and 3,851 jobs. That’s a lot of hard-earned cash making a real impact for those hard-working Wisconsinites.

The 2023-25 state budget, approved by the Legislature and signed into law by Governor Tony Evers appropriated $34 million to “raise Wisconsin’s profile across the country as a premier business, cultural and recreational destination,” according to the Tourism Department. By my math, a $34 million investment from the state in an industry that generates $25 billion is a fantastic return on investment. 

In my official capacity at the Capitol I have the opportunity to learn a lot about tourism being a member of both the Wisconsin Council on Tourism and the Senate Committee on Agriculture & Tourism. I get to see the successes and the challenges our tourism industry faces each year. 

Here is western Wisconsin we have plenty of Minnesota people who like to drive the Great River Road and Illinois travelers who make the trek up to our region for fun. There is no shortage of people, but small towns that make our communities unique become stretched to the max supporting festivals and events that draw hundreds of people to towns that serve as home for only a few hundred folks. Fundamentally, it’s the slower pace of these small communities that bring people back again and again, and these communities are the backbone of almost all of our tourism statewide.  

Our state must continue supporting the network of cities and towns that fuel our tourism industry and listen to their local elected leaders and business owners to keep identifying ways we can propel this trend moving in the right direction. If you have ideas about ways the state could do more, feel free to email me at [email protected]. I am always here to learn from you so I can be your voice in the Senate.  

Stay safe this summer and be sure to look out for each other on the roads.