North Carolina Announces 2015 Visitor Impact for Guilford County

Visit North Carolina announced that domestic visitors to and within Guilford County spent $1.296 billion in 2015, an increase of 2.6% from 2014.

Guilford County ranks third in the state in travel and tourism expenditures, with $1.296 billion generated in 2015 and more than 13, 100 people employed in travel-related jobs." said Henri Fourrier, President of the Greensboro Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. "Travel is a broad and diverse industry employing a vast workforce, from airline and hotel employees, restaurants and attractions."

 Tourism impact highlights for 2015:

• The travel and tourism industry directly employees more than 13,100 in Guilford County.

• Total payroll generated by the tourism industry in Guilford County was $328 million.

• State tax revenue generated in Guilford County totaled $67+ million through state sales and excise taxes, and taxes on personal and corporate income.  About $29 million in local taxes were garnered from sales and property tax revenues from travel-generated and travel supported business. 

Gov. Pat McCrory announced in May that visitors to North Carolina set a record for spending in 2015. The $21.96 billion in total spending represented an increase of 3 percent from 2014.

These statistics are from the "Economic Impact of Travel on North Carolina Counties 2015," which can be accessed at partners.visitnc.com/economic-impact-studies. The study was prepared for Visit North Carolina by the U.S. Travel Association.

"All eight economic development regions of the state had a spending growth of 2 percent or more, and 91 percent of the state's counties saw direct tourism employment growth from 2014 to 2015," said Wit Tuttell, executive director of Visit North Carolina. "Tourism continues to be major driver of economic development across North Carolina, which is the sixth most-visited state in the country."

Statewide highlights include:                        

• State tax receipts as a result of visitor spending rose 6.1 percent to top $1.1 billion in 2015.

• Visitors spend more than $60 million per day in North Carolina.  That spending adds nearly $4.9 million per day to state and local tax revenues (about $3.1 million in state taxes and $1.8 million in local taxes).

• The travel and tourism industry directly employees more than 211,000 North Carolinians.

• Each North Carolina household saves $475 in state and local taxes as a direct result of visitor spending in the state.