Acting Tourism Secretary Anne Sayers says the Joint Finance Committee’s vote to increase the Department of Tourism’s base budget by $ 1.5 million will help Wisconsin remain competitive with other Midwestern states.

Tourism is twice the size of 2019, and Sayers says it makes good marketing sense to stay there.

Senator Joan Ballweg, who serves on Legislature’s JFC, said the tourism industry will play an important role in revitalizing the state after the pandemic.

The Budgets Committee is reviewing and rewriting Governor Tony Evers’ two-year budget before it is passed by the full 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 Year had been adopted. Can.

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.

“Outdoor recreation has always been a major driver of visits for Wisconsin, and it’s a growing industry outside of tourism,” said Sayers. “There is a lot of national activity in this area. Wisconsin beats the national average. “

When participation in outdoor recreation 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 their workforce, supply chain, and how to keep the outdoor leisure economy growing.

This is just one thing to turn 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.

Vacation of two nights or more surpasses both 2020 and the record year for tourism 2019.

“These are really strong indicators that these are tourists, travelers and local residents who want revenge on the Year of Lost Travel, want to get back outside and find ways to make memories and reconnect with friends and family,” she said.

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 travel is “still very slow” in the state.

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

Room and resort taxes in the Wisconsin Dells area fell 34 percent and 25 percent, respectively, in 2020, said Tom Diehl, president of the Association of Wisconsin Tourism Attractions.

In the first three months of 2021, however, room and resort 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.”

While tourism companies are preparing for an expected influx of visitors, many have problems finding staff to accommodate their guests.

The labor shortage is a cross-industry problem. Legislators, chambers of commerce and business associations called for an end to the federal unemployment bonus in order to get people back to work.

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

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 are having to cut hours or services due to a staff shortage, Diehl said.

Hotels and lodging 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 is optimistic that the COVID-19 vaccine will encourage more people to go back to work.

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

The Capitol Report is written by the editorial team at WisPolitics.com, a non-partisan news service based in Madison that specializes in reporting on government and politics and is distributed for publication by members of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association.