NC pulls in record $20B in tourism revenue
The North Carolina tourism industry generated record visitor spending of $20.2 billion last year, officials said Wednesday.
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About 52.5 million people visited the state during the year, up almost 16 percent from 2012, making North Carolina the sixth-most-visited state.
"The growth of our tourism industry gives us a lot to celebrate,” Gov. Pat McCrory said in a statement. "The money they spent while visiting our mountains, beaches, cities and places in between directly supported nearly 200,000 jobs and more than 40,000 businesses."
Preliminary results from an annual study conducted by the U.S. Travel Association show that direct tourism employment grew 2.1 percent and that state tax receipts as a result of visitor spending rose 4 percent, to top $1 billion. Visitors spent more than $55 million per day in North Carolina last year and contributed more than $4.4 million per day in state and local tax revenues as a result of that spending.
“Everyone in North Carolina can feel the benefits of the tourism industry’s success,” Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker said in a statement. “Tourism means jobs in all of the state’s 100 counties. In addition, each North Carolina household saves $435 annually in state and local taxes as a result of taxes generated by visitor expenditures.”
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