Tourism Dollars

Although tourism still generated millions of dollars for Washington County in 2009, the results of a recently released study indicate that tourists spent more money in the county in 2008.
"Everything was down in 2009 as compared to 2008," said Wendy Wharff, executive director of the Marietta/Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau. "Visitor numbers, visitor spending, overnights and tourism employment - everything was down in different percentages for a lot of reasons."

One of those reasons, Wharff said, was the downturn in the economy, which resulted in people having less disposable income. Another reason visitor spending was down, she said, is because the cost of tourism-related goods, such as hotels and fuel, had dropped from previous years.

"It's not as easy as saying people aren't spending money," Wharff said. "That's not the case; people are spending money, but things don't cost as much as they used to."

The integrated consumer-based research study was organized by the Ohio Department of Development's Tourism Division and was conducted by Longwoods International and Tourism Economics. A total of 53 county/city convention and visitors bureaus, cities and economic development boards participated in the study.

The report indicates that last year, Washington County's tourism industry contributed more than $22.2 million in local taxes, generated $165.9 million in sales for local businesses and sustained more than 1,600 local jobs.

Wharff said in 2008, tourism generated $182.4 million in sales for local tourism. The specific amount of local taxes raised or number of jobs sustained by tourism in the county in 2008 was not available.

In 2007, visitors to the county generated business sales of $181 million.

Wharff said that according to the study, tourists spent the most money on food and beverages last year, followed by recreation.

"Which puts us in good position," she said. "We have lots of restaurants and pubs and taverns and really unique things."

Amanda West, manager at the Third Street Deli, said she noticed an increase in the number of tourists who stopped at the restaurant for a meal from summer 2008 to summer 2009. She attributed the restaurant's popularity to word-of-mouth advertising.

"The Audi Car Club and the Castle (have) been telling people about us," she said.

The study also provides tourism statistics for the state of Ohio for 2009. It indicates tourism contributed more than $2.5 billion in combined state and local taxes and generated $36 billion in sales for businesses in the state. It also indicates more than 437,000 jobs were sustained by visitors to the state.

The study also shows overnight leisure trips increased 6 percent in 2009 over 2008.

Wharff said studies like these help the bureau develop an effective marketing campaign. The 2010 campaign, for instance, focuses on the fact that a getaway to Washington County can be economical.

Wharff said the bureau is specifically targeting central Ohio residents this year.

"It's a convenient, easy, close, different trip right in their backyard," she said.

Wharff said the bureau is also trying to reach out to tourists through social media, such as Facebook and Twitter.