Its Important To You
by February 17, 2014 12:00 am 70 views
Why should tourism be important to you?
Not where you want to book a vacation or weekend getaway this summer. But the tourism of Northwest Arkansas.
It should be very important. And here’s why.
According to the most recent data from the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism, the tourism industry is circulating plenty of money here and throughout the entire Arkansas economy.
Tourism was a $5.8 billion dollar industry in Arkansas in 2012.
In all, 63 of the state’s 75 counties each collected more than $10 million in travel expenditures in 2012, including 12 with more than $100 million.
In terms of local total travel spending, Sebastian ($345.2), Washington ($304.0) and Benton ($259.8) counties combined for $909.1 million in travel spending in 2012, according to the ADPT. That accounted for about 15 percent of total travel spending in the state.
Those three counties were three of the top five in the state, behind only the two most dominant areas for travel spending — Pulaski County ($1.6 billion) and Garland County ($601.6 million).
In 2010, the Sebastian-Washington-Benton County total was $840 million, an 8.2 percent increase in just two years. Still about 15 percent of the statewide total.
Leveraging the area’s variety of restaurants, eclectic shopping, wineries and vineyards, live music, museums, art galleries and spas has, of course, proven successful. Local traffic alone would not support them.
We look forward to seeing the potential for even more growth with more tourist draws in the works: a revitalized downtown Springdale, the Walmart AMP in Rogers, the U.S. Marshals Museum in Fort Smith, a regional sports park in Fayetteville and the Amazeum in Bentonville.