Whether it’s enjoying a meal at Lakehouse Grille, teeing off at Swan Lake Resort, boating on Lake Maxinkuckee, experiencing the Marshall County Blueberry Festival, or traveling the Marshall County Barn Quilt Trail, tourism is big business in Marshall County as a recent study reports.
The new economic impact report conducted by Certec Inc., an independent market research and consulting company, determined visitors spent $126.3 million in 2015 resulting in $90.5 million in direct economic impact that supported 1,516 jobs. In 2014 statewide, tourism supports more than 144,200 jobs, contributes $10.7 billion in revenue to Indiana businesses and is the sixth largest industry in the state, excluding government.
Some other key Marshall County tourism facts and figures at a glance, according to the study:
- Of the tourism dollars spent, food & beverages accounted for 35 percent followed closely by shopping at 25 percent and lodging and attractions at 10 percent.
- 82 cents of every tourism dollar spent in Marshall County stayed local.
- Visitors generated $29.7 million in federal, state and local tax revenue.
- Tourism generated jobs provided nearly $24.8 million in wages to Marshall County workers.
- Residents of Marshall County spent an additional $14.9 million with the local tourism industry. This direct spending created 197 jobs.
- Destination travelers to Marshall County totaled over 820,640 thousand persons in 2015. In addition, over 460,032 pass through travelers visited the county.
The study was commissioned by Marshall County Tourism and conducted by Certec Inc., which specializes in economic impact and feasibility studies for the travel, tourism and hospitality industry. The methodology used by the study is based on information collected directly from tourists and tourism businesses (bottom-up measurement) as opposed to a procedure that relies on the extraction of information from business data that was initially collected for the purpose other than the analysis of the tourism industry (top-down measurement). For more information contact Marshall County Tourism at 800-626-5353 or visit our website at www.visitmarshallcounty.org.
The Marshall County Convention and Visitors Bureau or Marshall County Tourism mission is to conduct marketing and sales programs to attract visitors to Marshall County and enhance our area’s image so the county can derive the economic and social benefits of a prosperous tourism industry. Find us on Facebook at Facebook.com/VisitMarshallCounty and become a fan for updates and reminders, contest info and much more. You can also follow us on Twitter @VisitMarshallco. For more information, visit our website at VisitMarshallCounty.org or call (574) 936-1882.
