It’s no surprise that the pandemic has affected tourism in a major way all throughout the country, the state, and even locally.
While speaking at the Manitowoc Area Visitor and Convention Bureau Tourism Breakfast yesterday (May 5th) Executive Director of the bureau, Jason Ring explained that 2020 was projected to be the best year for tourism the area had seen in quite some time. That ended up not becoming reality.
“The State of Wisconsin saw a decline of almost 30% in terms of visitor spending last year,” he told Seehafer News. “Our community was a little better than the state average at 25% loss. When you think of what that means, that’s businesses that are losing 25% of their revenue. That’s enough to close a lot of businesses.”
One major aspect of that was the cancellation of so many events. In a normal year there are roughly 50 conventions or sports tournaments held in the area, but last year there were only 13.
That being said, Ring is excited for what 2021 will bring.
“87% of people surveyed say they are planning a trip in the next six months,” Ring explained. “That goes to 66% of people who are planning a trip within the summer months.”
While that is fairly obviously going to be a good thing for local business, Ring explained that tourism affects everyone, not just business owners.
“The visitor comes and spends their money in the hotels, and restaurants, and the attractions, but then those businesses do business locally with the banks, and insurance agencies,” he said. “Hotels get their linens dry cleaned, and that goes to a local business, and then those businesses employ their staff to go out and spend money in our community. The great thing is visitors are taxpayers just like you and I, but they aren’t using our city services [like police and fire], so those are less tax dollars that you and I have to pay.”
Thanks to events such as the Ryder Cup coming to Whistling Straights in Kohler, the NASCAR Cup Series race coming to Road America, and the diverse nature of attractions in the Manitowoc County area, Ring expects 2021 to be a banner year for tourism.