SNOWSHOE, W.Va. – Visitors to the Mountain State contribute billions of dollars to the state’s travel and tourism industry, according to a new study released today at the Governor’s Conference on Tourism at Snowshoe Mountain. The independent study commissioned by the West Virginia Division of Tourism documents the level of travel spending and the impact this spending has on the economy in terms of earnings, employment and tax revenue.
The study for 2008, completed by Dean Runyan Associates, indicates that:
* Travel spending by all overnight and day visitors in West Virginia generated more than $4.38 billion in the 2008 calendar year. This is equivalent to approximately $12 million dollars per day.
* Travel spending in West Virginia has increased by 7.8 percent per year since 2000. In constant dollars (adjusted for inflation), travel spending has increased by 4.5 percent for the same period.
* Visitors who stayed overnight in commercial lodging facilities spent $1.4 billion on their trips in 2008. This is about one-third of all travel spending in the state.
* Day travelers spent $2.1 billion, or nearly one-half of the state’s total travel spending, substantially on gaming and entertainment.
* During 2008, visitor spending in West Virginia directly supported 44,000 jobs with earnings of $912 million. Travel spending generated the greatest number of jobs in accommodations and food services, arts and entertainment and recreation.
* Local and state tax revenues generated by travel spending were $591 million in 2008. Without these travel-generated tax revenues, each household in West Virginia would have had to pay an additional $799 in state and local taxes to maintain current service levels.
“The study reaffirms that, even with the challenging economy, tourism is growing in West Virginia,” Commerce Secretary Kelley Goes said. “It also provides insight to the contributions that the tourism industry makes to the development of the state’s economy and aids in future strategic planning efforts for tourism.”
“The Dean Runyan Associates study, used the same type of data that other industries use when they estimate their economic impact,” said Betty Carver, Tourism commissioner. “With this research we can look at the direct impact tourism has, using existing statistics from county, state and federal reports.”
The Dean Runyan Associates study is a grassroots approach to the research that analyzes the travel economic impacts at the state, regional and county levels. Dean Runyan Associates used information provided by the West Virginia Department of Tax and Revenue, the West Virginia Racing Commission, the West Virginia Lottery and West Virginia State Parks and Forests. Federal assistance came from the USDA Forest Service, Department of Labor and the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
“The study breaks out traveler spending and state earnings into categories that are important to the tourism industry’s planning and development strategies,” Carver said.
Visitor spending is identified for types of accommodations, such as hotels and motels, campgrounds, private homes, vacation homes and day travel with no accommodations. It also takes into account goods purchased, such as accommodations, food and beverages, food stores, transportation and motor fuel, arts, entertainment, recreation, gaming and retail sales. The study further takes this information and details industry earnings, industry employment and tax receipts generated.
Dean Runyan Associates is an Oregon-based firm that has specialized in research and planning services for the travel, tourism and recreation industries since 1984. The firm developed and maintains the Regional Travel Impact Model (RTIM), a proprietary computer model for analyzing travel economic impacts at the state, regional and local levels. The company has extensive experience in project feasibility analysis, market evaluation, survey research and travel and tourism planning.
Dean Runyan Associates has conducted similar studies for the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, Texas, Washington and Wyoming.
The study will be available for download from the West Virginia Division of Tourism’s Web site at http://www.wvtourism.com/ on Sept. 25.
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