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Tourism Matters to Washington State
(Source: Washington State Community, Trade and Economic Development Tourism Office/Dean Runyan Associates)
Tourism is a major industry in Washington State
According to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) produced, tourism ranks 4th as an industry, following software, aerospace and agriculture & food.
Tourism means business
it supports existing companies
it stimulates new business development
Tourism supports jobs
Nearly 150,000 jobs and $4.2 billion in earnings in Washington State
In six non-urban Washington counties, travel-related jobs are more than 10% of total employment
Tourists spend money
Total direct visitor spending was $14.2 billion in 2009
Tourists pay taxes
Nearly $1 billion in local/state tax revenue in 2009
Tourism pays for itself…and then some
Hotel/motel taxes support:
Convention center construction
Arts and cultural institutions
Low income housing
Transportation projects
Community centers
Washington's urban and rural areas work together to maximize tourism benefit
Big cities are gateways to rural attractions
Rural areas are more dependent on tourism
(Travel spending generates 15% of local sales tax and hotel/motel taxes in 8 rural counties)
Tourism Matters to the United States
(Source: U.S. Travel Association)
Travel and tourism is a $1.6 trillion industry in the United States
If one dollar bill equaled a second of time, then $1.7 trillion would equal almost 51,000 years.
Travel and tourism generates $111 billion in tax revenue for local, state and federal governments
If you place 111 billion one dollar bills end-to-end, they would circle the world 422 times.
Each U.S. household would pay $950 more in taxes without the tax revenue generated by the travel and tourism industry
$950 will buy about five weeks of groceries for a family of four, will fill the average car with gas 31 times.
The travel and tourism industry is one of the country's largest employers with 7.4 million direct travel-generated jobs.
Direct travel-generated payroll totals $186 billion; 1 out of every 9 U.S. non-farm jobs is created directly, indirectly or is induced by travel and tourism.
The travel and tourism industry is one of America's largest service exports.
International travelers spent more on their visits to the United States than U.S. residents spent while traveling abroad, creating a trade surplus of $23.2 billion for the U.S.
Dining is the most popular domestic trip activity and is included in 31 percent of all domestic trips; Shopping is the No. 1 leisure/recreational activity for overseas visitors.
Approximately 2.8 million hotel roomnights are sold every day in the United States. That is enough hotel rooms to lodge every person living in Dallas, Detroit, Denver and Orlando combined.
Spending by resident and international travelers in the U.S. averages $1.9 billion a day, $80 million an hour, $1.3 million a minute, and $22,300 a second.
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