Business

Tourism spending up 5.6% in county

By Bill Moss, Published: August 19, 2015

Visitors in Henderson County spent $246.41 million in 2014, an increase of 5.64 percent from 2013.

Tourism impact highlights for 2014:

• The travel and tourism industry directly employees more than 2120 workers in Henderson County.
• Total payroll generated by the tourism industry in Henderson County was $43.27 million.
• State tax revenue generated in Henderson County totaled $10.79 million through state sales and excise taxes, and taxes on personal and corporate income. Approximately $10.41 million in local taxes were generated from sales and property tax revenue from travel-­‐generated and travel-­‐ supported businesses.
• State and local revenue generated by the tourism industry in Henderson County resulted in a tax saving of $191.16 per county resident.

Gov. Pat McCrory announced in May that visitors to North Carolina spent a record $21.3 billion in 2014, an increase of 5.5 percent from 2013. The statistics are from the “2014 Economic Impact of Travel on North Carolina Counties.” The study was prepared for Visit North Carolina by the U.S. Travel Association.
“All eight regions of the state had spending growth of 4 percent or more and 90 percent of the state’s counties saw direct tourism employment growth from 2013 to 2014,” said Wit Tuttell, executive director of Visit North Carolina. “As the sixth most visited state in the country, tourism continues to be major driver of economic development across North Carolina.”
Statewide highlights include:

• State tax receipts as a result of visitor spending neared the $1.1 billion mark in 2014. The figure represents 4 percent in growth over 2013’s $1.0 billion.
• Visitors spend more than $58 million per day in North Carolina. That spending adds more than $4.6 million per day to state and local tax revenues (about $2.9 million in state taxes and $1.7 million in local taxes).
• The travel and tourism industry directly employees more than 200,000 North Carolinians.