Tourist spent billions in state last year

The Montana tourism industry continues to boom with visitor spending reaching new levels.

Travelers opened their wallets while in Montana last year, spending nearly $3.8 billion throughout the state. That total is up more than 9 percent over the previous year, according to a new report from the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research at the University of Montana.

Tourism is now the second largest industry in the state, only behind agriculture.

The Glacier region represented the highest percentage of traveler spending with 33 percent of the multibillion-dollar pie, outpacing the Yellowstone area which accounted for 26 percent.

In fact, out of all of Montana's 56 counties, Flathead raked in the most visitor dough at $668 million. Gallatin County was second at $662 million.

Whitefish Visitor and Convention Bureau director Dylan Boyle said those results buck a historical trend.

"We're always second to Gallatin County," he said, noting that on average Yellowstone National Park will see 1.2 million more visitors per year than Glacier Park.

"Even with those visitors to Yellowstone, Flathead outpaced Gallatin County. I did not expect that. It's a big win for the tourism industry here."

Spending is through the roof despite overall visitation staying relatively flat. Since 2010, visitor spending has grown by 52 percent, while visitation has increased by 6 percent.

Boyle says that's the sweet spot and credits smart marketing for the success.

"It's high yield and low impact," he said. "Visitor spending is going up rapidly and visitation is growing more slowly."

Local marketing efforts have been focused on the geo-traveler - a phrase coined by National Geographic - since about 2007. Those efforts are finally paying off.

"The geo-traveler is well education and has discretionary income to spend," Boyle said. "Travel is in their blood and they're looking for a unique experience."

He points to the fact that farmers markets are one of the top-15 areas of visitor spending in the report, accounting for $2.69 million in Flathead County alone. It's the first time the economic impact of farmers markets has been accounted for in the report.

"It's an insignificant number compared to retail and restaurants, but it's a perfect example of geo-traveler spending," he said. "The market is a local, unique event with residents and non-residents together. The geo-traveler wants to be where locals go."

The top spending areas for visitors to the Flathead were in retail ($173 million) and restaurants ($135 million).

Flathead was unique in that fuel wasn't a top expense for visitors - third at $106 million - like it was for nearly all of the other areas included in the report. Boyle says that's because once visitors get here, they tend to stay here.

"They're reached their destination," he said.

Not to be lost in all this spending is the direct impact to the local economy.

More than 9,500 jobs were supported through visitor spending, according to the report, and about $36 million was contributed in state and local taxes.

"Visitors are bringing a real economic impact to the valley," Boyle said. "They're pumping money into the local economy and then that money gets spent here over and over again."

The full report from ITRR is available at www.itrr.umt.edu.