La Crosse County Tourism Posts Recording-Breaking Year in 2022
La Crosse County Direct Visitor Spending for Tourism Grows 16% over 2021
La Crosse County tourism generated $489,000,000 in total economic impact in 2022, helping Wisconsin break an economic impact record
On June 6th, 2023 The Wisconsin Department of Tourism released 2022 economic impact data, showing the tourism industry generated a record-breaking $23.7 billion in total economic impact. The highest-ever overnight visitation helped fuel the growth, with La Crosse County playing a pivotal role by contributing $489,000,000 in total economic impact and ranking #9 out of 72 counties state-wide for direct visitor spending.
The 2022 total economic impact surpassed the previous statewide record of $22.2 billion set in 2019. While La Crosse County saw direct visitor spending hit an all-time high of $304,600,000 in 2022 smashing the previous record of $281,000,000 set in 2019. Additionally, last year, La Crosse County tourism supported 3,981 part-time and full-time jobs across various sectors of the industry and generated $34,700,000 in local tax revenue. Statewide, tourism generated $1.5 billion in state and local tax revenue. Without this revenue, each Wisconsin household would pay an additional $620 to maintain the current level of government services.
Explore La Crosse is extremely proud to work with all our local tourism partners who achieved such a lofty number. Never before has tourism had such an impact on our region, said A.J. Frels, Executive Director of Explore La Crosse.
In 2022, there were 111.1 million visits in Wisconsin, which was up 8.8 million visits, or 8.7%, over the previous year. This includes a record 45.4 million overnight visits or a 13.8% increase from 2021. Overnight visitors, on average, spent nearly three times as much as day trip visitors. To learn more about Wisconsin tourism’s record-breaking year, view the 2022 economic impact data, including a county-by-county breakdown, at industry.travelwisconsin.com/research.
