Wabash County, Indiana benefit from tourism, analysis says

"We've known anecdotally for quite some time that tourism was a large economic driver in Wabash County," EDG President and CEO Keith Gillenwater said in a news release from Visit Wabash County. "We were happy to partner with Visit Wabash County and the State of Indiana to measure this important industry and confirm what we've known all along - tourism has a huge and growing impact on our community."

The economic importance of tourists to a community extends well beyond core hospitality and transportation sectors. Tourism economics offers a solution to the efforts of destination marketing organizations such as Visit Wabash County and to industry associations that marries rigorous methodology and compelling communication to raise the profile of tourism as an economic engine.

The report concluded the following highlights for the county in 2013:

Spending by visitors to Wabash County totaled $41.9 million in 2013, up 1.6 percent over 2012.Visitors spent $3.5 million on lodging, $11.4 million on food and beverages, $12.2 million on shopping, $5 million on entertainment and recreation and $9.9 million on transportation.The economic impact of these expenditures totaled $28.2 million.Of every tourism dollar spent in Wabash County in 2013, 68 cents "stayed" locally and led directly to the gross county product of Wabash County.Visitor spending in Wabash County supported 960 jobs and $16 million in labor income.Traveler spending supported 960 jobs in Wabash County in 2013. Of these, 855 were directly employed by tourism sectors. Tourism generated an additional 46 indirect jobs and 58 induced jobs.$16 million in total wages and proprietor income were generated for these employees.Visitors generated federal, state and local tax revenue totaling $8.3 million in 2013.Federal tax collections resulting from tourism in Wabash County totaled $3.4 million including corporate and personal income taxes, excise taxes and social security collections.State and local tourism-derived taxes totaled $4.9 million, including $2.2 million in sales taxes contributing to state tax collections and $1.8 million in property taxes to support the local tax base.If Wabash County tourism did not exist, each of the 12,777 households in the county would have to pay an additional $384 per year in taxes to maintain current state and local tax levels."The study revealed that tourism is the fifth largest industry in Wabash County (by jobs)," Christine Flohr, executive director of tourism for Visit Wabash County, said. "It is important for key decision-makers and residents to understand the significant impact that tourism has and how it directly affects the quality of place that Wabash County has to offer."

Alongside the local level, statewide numbers look promising as well, according to a press release from the Office of Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann and the IOTD.

"The economic impact report for 2013 shows that Indiana's travel, tourism and hospitality industry continues to grow and have a significant impact on the Hoosier economy," Ellspermann said in the release. "This important research is possible through the collaboration between tourism bureaus and IOTD. County participants now have meaningful tourism data available at the local level."

IOTD Executive Director Mark Newman notes that tourism directly helps Hoosiers.

"Tourism is big business in Indiana and every Hoosier household benefits from a robust tourism economy," Newman said. "If visitors stopped coming to Indiana, each household would have to pay an additional $478 in state and local taxes to offset the loss of visitor spending."

In 2013, the release added, the travel, tourism and hospitality industry was responsible for 1.5 percent of total Indiana gross domestic product, 4.7 percent of total jobs in the state and 6.3 percent of state and local tax receipts.

Also, Indiana retained approximately 77 percent of each dollar spent by visitors.