Regional travel and tourism in the Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati region is a multi-billion industry and attracts millions of visitors, sustains thousands of jobs and generates nearly $500 million for state and local governments.
Those are among the key findings of “Impact & Momentum: A Report on Cincinnati USA’s Travel and Tourism Industry and its Influence on the Regional Economy”, a study commissioned by meetNKY, The Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) and the Cincinnati USA Regional Tourism Network (RTN) and released to coincide with 2015 National Travel & Tourism Week (May 2-10).
“Northern Kentucky is a major contributor to the regional travel and tourism industry,” said meetNKY President and CEO Eric Summe. “meetNKY is proud and honored to work in collaboration with the Cincinnati USA CVB and the RTN in celebrating our success but more importantly on continuing to attract visitors, economic development, investment, jobs and spending to what is becoming one of world’s great destinations. We are working across state and political boundaries for the benefit of all of our communities.”
The study was based on a 2013 survey of visitors to the region conducted by Tourism Economics in conjunction with Longwoods International and included 15 counties in three states. It revealed that the travel and tourism is a significant contributor to the local economy. Key findings include:
· Visitors to the region spent $4.4 billion in 2013, a 5.1 percent increase over 2012, including $629 million on hotels, $898 million on retail and $1.4 billion on food and beverage.
· The region hosted 24.1 million visitors in 2013, an increase of 4 percent over 2012. Ninety percent of visitors came for leisure and 40 percent stayed at least one night.
· More than 74,000 jobs were sustained by the regional travel and tourism industry.
· Travel and tourism generated $492 million in state and local tax revenue, offsetting the average household tax burden by $602.
· Since 2009, tourism sales have grown at an average of 4.1 percent – compared to 3 percent nationally – and total employment sustained by tourism increased 3.4 percent.
·Leisure visitors spent $101 per person per day; business travelers spent $189 per person per day
“Travel and the visitor spend are amazing catalysts for economic development,” says meetNKY Board Chair Alan Bernstein. “There is an incredible amount of hotel, attraction and amenity investment in our area: completed, in progress and in planning. We are a region on the rise with strong momentum. This great development makes us a stronger region which ultimately benefits and impacts all of our residents.”
meetNKY also helped boost tourism and travel through advocacy with the Kentucky Development Tourism
Development Authority and has been instrumental in securing major sales tax rebates for major visitor attractions including Newport on the Levee, the Aloft hotel at the Levee and the Hotel Covington.
Nationally, travel generates $2.1 trillion for the U.S. economy. Direct travel spending in the U.S. totaled $927.9 billion by domestic and international travelers in 2014, generating $141.5 billion in local, state and federal tax revenue.
The travel and tourism industry supports more than 15 million jobs in the U.S. and is one of the top 10 employers of American workers in 49 of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia.
For more information visit meetNKY.com.
Also see: Tribune’s Eric Summe says meetNKY and love it