Wisconsin is about to enter summer, the most important period of the state's tourism industry. With gas prices at an all-time high, the summer tourism forecast is uncertain. Will people stay home, or will they opt to spend their leisure time close to home here in Wisconsin?
What is clear is that Wisconsin's year-round tourism business translates into big bucks for the state economy. The Department of Tourism estimates tourism, the state's third largest industry, added more than $12.8 billion to the state economy during 2007. From 1994 through 2007, travel expenditures increased in Wisconsin 122 percent.
Calculating the impact of state tourism is based on a formula that includes about 2,000 face-to-face interviews with travelers to Wisconsin in all seasons at various events, 3,000 telephone interviews with lodging properties, and over 1,000 telephone interviews with Wisconsin households that hosted travelers or other guests.
Summer, the period June through August, is Wisconsin's busiest and most productive tourism season, raking in $4.9 billion during 2007. Fall, September through November comes next with $3.1 billion, followed by spring, March-May with $2.6 billion, and winter, December 2007 through February 2008 with $2.2 billion.
Where are most of the tourism dollars spent? Milwaukee County leads the pack with $1.678 billion. Next is Dane County with $1.184 billion. During 2007, Sauk County, home of Wisconsin Dells became the third Wisconsin county to surpass the billion-dollar mark in tourism spending at $1.047 billion.
Rounding out the state's top ten counties in traveler spending were Waukesha, Brown, Walworth, Door, Outagamie, Sheboygan and Vilas counties.
The contribution to Wisconsin businesses by travelers is significant. Wisconsin travelers spend $3.94 billion on shopping, $3.41 billion on food, $2.84 billion on recreation and $1.61 billion on lodging.
The vast majority of travelers are here for leisure, 70 percent. The leisure category includes sporting events, casino trips group tours, festivals, and visit to families and friends. Another 19 percent were here during 2007 on business, and 11 percent attended meetings or conventions.
Over half, 53 percent of travel expenditures during 2007, $6.7 billion was spent on overnight stays in hotels, motels, resorts, and Bed and Breakfasts (B & B's).
Another 37 percent did not spend on lodging. Instead, they fell into the category of day trippers, or they visited families and friends. Even so, they still spent $4.71 billion, a sizeable figure for travelers just passing through. The rest of the travelers were campers or stayed in cabins, cottages or condos.
Businesses prosper. So does state employment. Wisconsin's tourism industry during 2007 supported the full-time equivalent of 200-thousand jobs and $3.6 billion in wages and salaries, covering a wide variety of positions from entry level and part-time to management and executive slots. The Tourism Department estimates that if jobs indirectly related to tourism are factored in, the industry supports 302,000 jobs and $7.09 billion in wages and salaries.
The contribution in taxes and fees is also substantial, $1.422 billion to the state and $638 million to local governments, totaling $2.06 billion.
The Department of Tourism is banking on the state's new branding initiative to help grow Wisconsin's tourism industry. According to the Department, "The new brand platform pays tribute to Wisconsin as a place where the people are fiercely proud, passionate and loyal, and where the culture fuels creativity and embraces originality. It puts the spotlight on the Wisconsin style of hospitality and the friendly people who deliver it, giving visitors a genuine sense of belonging. This hospitality and culture of originality allow visitors to fully 'be themselves,' in other words, to relax and pursue their passions."
The brand promise reads: "Because of the passionate nature of the state's people to create fun, express themselves in original ways and feel more comfortable doing it here than anywhere else, in Wisconsin originality rules."
A new theme line, advertising concepts and marketing materials will be developed based on the brand promise.
If your summer vacation plans include Wisconsin, know that you are contributing to the state economy and one of the state's largest and most successful industries.
State Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) represents Wisconsin's 28th Senate District.
3 Comments
Mary,
You have demonstrated what is wrong with full time state legislators in general and the republican party in specific. Why would you write about this stuff?
Your essay give us lots of statistics on tourism in Wisconsin, and describes how our new "branding" is going to work. Thanks. Great to have you on the payroll to keep us informed.
And SBT, thanks for the great essay as well. You guys know that politicians write crap like this and send it to everyone, hoping it will get published and keep their name out in the public eye.
Here's my concern: If all of this State of Wisconsin tourism branding stuff just disappeared, or never occured, would there be any difference in the actual tourist dollars spent? Perhaps besides identifying the waste of taxpayer money that is Mary Lazich, and all the other assembly members that work for us full time, maybe I have identified another area where State governement could cut back.
The department of tourism's new "brand platform" and "brand promise" sound like so much pointless crap, they could have only come from a Government Agency or a marketing consulting firm. And we all wonder why the state can't balance its budget. Stop paying for stuff like this!
And keep on rockin' in the free world.
OK. Tourism is big busines in Wisconsin, especially in the summmer. That is good. I imagine the increasing number of films being made here will only help people get to know Wisconsin even better and perhaps want to pay us a visit. The branding idea seems intriguing, too. (I still recall the "You're Among Friends" theme from years ago.) But I would be curious to know about any trends that are noteworthy.
Are we seeing more or fewer visitors from foreign countries; from Chicago; from the Midwestern region in general; from foreign countries via Chicago? What about Canada? And are there particular places, or kinds of activities, that are seeing a significant increase or drop-off in tourism-related business? Is business travel up or down in Wisconsin? What about convention business? And how do we compare to the other states?
What kind of return do we see on our advertising dollars spent? Are we spending our advertising dollars any differently than we have in the past? How well do we promote Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha to the rest of the state? Does this new branding campaign mean we will be spending more on advertising? Finally, what are some targeted regions, fields, activities or businesses for growing and expanding tourism in Wisconsin in the future?
Paul, good questions and reasonable line of thought...
As a Milwaukee resident living in Brooklyn, I recommend you all read the following New York TImes article
N.Y./REGION | June 20, 2008
City Room: Yo, Brooklyn Brand, What's Up?
Not unreasonably, the panel speakers mentioned the "Milwaukee Brand" from back in the day when beer and machines were branded with the cities name because it meant quality... That quality created jobs and workforce development for the city.
Point being, branding and tourism are a remarkably cost effective strategy to attract investment and employers. Just think about New York City's campaign in the 90's and currently - You couldn't pay people to come here in the 80's and combination of clean up efforts and advertising helped revitalize the entire city and region. Since then the city has never looked back!
And Art, stop ending with that keep on rockin thing - Its is safe to say that this tag line is patronizing.