12.5 billion dollars. That’s the estimated economic impact that Kentucky’s Tourism Industry had on the state’s economy in 2013.
That figure, a 2.6 percent increase over 2012, is part of an annual report which was released on Monday that tracks all tourism-related spending in the commonwealth.
Tourism, Arts, and Heritage cabinet spokesman Gil Lawson said one area in particular showed considerable growth.
“Revenue from overnight lodging is up which means more people are spending money in hotel rooms. That’s for a lot of different reasons. It could be folks visiting the Bourbon Trail, visiting for horse racing at Keeneland or Churchill Downs, or anything else whether it’s a state park or a family reunion or whatever, but that was one area that did show an increase," Lawson said.
The survey, conducted by Certec Inc. of Versailles, shows that tourism was responsible for 175,746 jobs in Kentucky in 2013 – an increase of 1,740 jobs from the previous year. Those jobs generated more than $2.8 billion in wages for Kentucky workers, an increase of nearly $72 million from the previous year.