Douglas County Excited for Tourism Comeback Immediately after Pandemic Dip

New numbers just released on Wisconsin’s tourism this past year express a dip on visitor spending due to the pandemic. But Douglas County tourism officials appear toward the future thrilled for a comeback.

“A lot of other areas are experiencing tourism impacts of much more than that,” said Taylor Pedersen, President and CEO of Travel Superior. “Hence we’re excited that we’re needs to see tourism keep coming back.”

At this time annually the Wisconsin Department of Tourism releases the impacts tourism had on the previous year’s economy.

While Wisconsin all together welcomed a lot more than 90 million tourists in 2020, tourism officials in Douglas County say they expected COVID to package a blow.

According to the Section of Tourism’s article travelers to Douglas County spent $82.7 million in direct visitor spending this past year - a 22% dip from 2019.

“Quite honestly, that number’s hopeful for me personally,” Pedersen said, “”It could’ve been a whole lot worse.”

State and local tax income from tourism decreased more than $2 million.

At Travel Better, Pedersen said that may hurt the complete local economy a lot more than people sometimes realize.

“A lot of men and women think ‘well I don’t connect to tourists in my daily life,’ nonetheless it effects everybody,” he said. “Those are taxes that are citizens are gonna need to make-up Where we don’t need to worry about if a tourist is footing the bill on that.”

Nevertheless, according to Pedersen, Douglas County fared much better than different counties in both Wisconsin and Minnesota.

He owes that to occupants supporting community businesses and outdoor attractions even more during the pandemic.

“Our golf course does superb things and seeing excellent benefits, our lakes, our parks, our trails happen to be busier than they’re ever been,” said Pedersen. “That’s area of the purpose that we’re doing Okay. Because a lot of our tourism providing is outdoors.”

Pedersen adds the release of Travelling Superior’s new advertising campaign “Remember Fun” is getting good feedback found in the Twin Cities, Southern Wisconsin, and the Chicago spot.

Pedersen says nationwide 87% of Us citizens are planning trips within the next half a year. Businesses in Douglas County will be taking note, he explained, extending mask using through the summertime, and heavy washing to emphasize their safet.