Fewer dollars being spent on local tourism are actually staying local, according to a study funded by the Cass County Visitors Bureau.
About 69 cents of every dollar spent by visitors to Cass County contributed to the county's gross domestic product, boosting the local economy, the Cass County Visitors Bureau indicated Tuesday based on the results of its most recent economic impact report.
The county-level report, compiled by Rockport Analytics and funded by $3,000 from the local visitors bureau, indicated visitors to Cass County spent $11.7 million in 2014.
In 2012, the last year for which the county visitors bureau had a similar study done, spending totaled $11.3 million but 95 percent of that stayed local.
Visitor spending is considered to have stayed local if it goes to local services or products. For example, if you buy a meal at a restaurant and that restaurant sources products locally, that money is considered to have stayed local, Cass County Visitors Bureau Director Toni Savini confirmed. But if the products come from out of town, that portion of your meal's cost hasn't. Also, wages paid to people who live in town are considered to have stayed local.
The analytics firm noted that tourism spending usually tops the direct impact tourism has on the local economy — at least part of a traveler buys is supplied by out-of-town companies, the firm explained in a slide presentation posted to the Indiana Office of Tourism Development's website. Only locally sourced services and products are counted as directly impacting the county economy.
Of the $11.7 million visitors spent, the Cass County Visitors Bureau indicated in a press release, $3 million covered lodging, $3.8 million covered food and beverage, $3.4 million went to retail, about $383,000 was spent on entertainment and recreation and $1.1 million went for transportation.
Savini didn't know why tourism's contribution to the local economy had fallen so much.
"It had dropped from the last study we did. That was a surprise to me," Savini said. "I don't know whether we're doing less locally, [if] the vendors are doing less locally."
Tourism spending in 2014 supported 215 jobs with $4.6 million in total wages and business owner income, according to the study.
France Park and youth sports are among the biggest reasons out-of-town visitors come to Cass County, Savini has said in the past. Lately, the visitors bureau has funded creation of a local tourism app for smartphones and tablets to boost visits. It's also involved in a recent four-county marketing push promoting the area's "rural and rustic" attractions.
France Park welcomed more than 20,000 day visitors in 2015, according to park Superintendent Dana Hildebrand, and campers on top of that. That's more than usual, he said, suggesting that was partly because surrounding locations like Mississinewa Reservoir were flooded out for much of the summer. He couldn't provide a total number of visitors for 2014.
Cass County visitor spending grew more slowly than the average for other counties studied. Savini attributed that to most counties studing being larger with more tourist attractions.