Wisconsin officers bullish on summer season tourism | Information

Acting Tourism Secretary Anne Sayers says the Joint Finance Committee vote to continue adding $ 1.5 million to the tourism department’s base budget will help Wisconsin remain competitive with other Midwestern states.

Tourism has twice as many markets as in 2019, and Sayers says it’s a good marketing feeling to stay there.

Senator Joan Ballweg, who serves on the JFC’s legislature, said the tourism industry will play an important role in revitalizing the state after the pandemic. The Budgets Committee reviews and rewrites Governor Tony Evers’ two-year budget prior to adoption by the entire legislature. Then the document goes back to the governor for likely vetoes.

“Although the Department of Tourism is a relatively small division, the tourism industry supports over 200,000 jobs in our local communities and has an impact of over $ 2 billion on the economy of our state,” said Ballweg, R-Markesan, after the determination center 20. May.

The committee also took steps to further fund the Office of Outdoor Recreation, which was founded in 2019 to promote Wisconsin as a top outdoor recreation state.

“Recreation has always been a major reason for visiting Wisconsin, and it’s a growing business, including outside of tourism,” said Sayers. “There is a lot of activity in this area at the national level; Wisconsin beats the national average. “

When participation in outdoor recreational activities skyrocketed in 2020, the office was there to organize that activity, Sayers explained. It’s also there for manufacturers and retailers who are now raising questions about the workforce, supply chains, and how the outdoor recreation economy is growing.

That’s just one thing to lead tourism into a record year.

The number of Americans planning to travel in the next six months has peaked at 89 percent since the pandemic began, Sayers said a WisBusiness.com virtual event on May 20th. Holidays of two or more nights surpass both 2020 and the record year for tourism of 2019.

“These are really strong indicators that these are tourists, travelers and residents who want revenge for the year of lost journeys, come back out and find ways to make memories and reconnect with friends and family,” she said . “And that will be good news for the Wisconsin leisure and tourism industries.”

Hotels see similar prospects in the recreational sector, particularly in the Northwoods and Door Counties areas, said Bill Elliott, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Hotel & Lodging Association. But business trips are “still very slow” in the state.

“From the data we’ve seen, once you mix up the business travel and everything else, it will likely be closer to 2024 before we really see a full recovery back to the 2019 numbers,” he said.

Room and resort taxes in the Wisconsin Dells area decreased 34 percent and 25 percent, respectively, in 2020, said Tom Diehl, president of the Association of Wisconsin Tourism Attractions. But in the first three months of 2021 room and visitor taxes are 8.5 percent higher than in 2019.

“There is a lot of catching up to do because people have been sitting at home long enough and we will be a great benefactor of that,” he said. “My main concern is the labor shortage.”

As tourism establishments prepare for a waiting rush of visitors, many are struggling to find staff to accommodate guests. The shortage of skilled workers is a cross-industry issue. Legislators, chambers of commerce and business associations called for the federal unemployment benefit to be abolished in order to get people back into work.

Diehl said removing the improvement would go a long way, but the tourism industry is also lacking its J-1 staff.

Seasonal spots rely on international students to support recruiting companies. J-1 visas have been hindered by travel restrictions and closed or delayed American embassies. Some companies will have to reduce working hours or services due to a lack of staff, said Diehl.

Hotels and accommodation establishments also bear these burdens. It’s hard to encourage employees to get back to work when they are making more than $ 16 an hour at home from unemployment, Elliott said. He noted that he is optimistic that the COVID-19 vaccine will encourage more people to get back to work.

“I know there are some hotels that are currently closing rooms just because they don’t have enough people to hand them over, clean them up and prepare them for the next guest,” he said.

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