Wisconsin’s tourism industry experienced its third-straight year of record-setting economic impact in 2024 and set a new all-time high for the number of visits to the Badger State, Gov. Tony Evers announced Tuesday.
The state’s tourism industry generated $25.8 billion in total economic impact last year, beating the record set in 2023 of $25 billion, according to data from the state Department of Tourism.
On top of monetary impact, there were also a record 114.4 million visits to Wisconsin in 2024, beating the previous record of 113.2 million visits set in 2019, the department said.
“That number is built off of repeat visitors,” said Craig Trost, communications director for the Department of Tourism. “They are the backbone of our tourism economy.”
The agency, more commonly known as Travel Wisconsin, counts a visit as any trip a person takes that’s more than 50 miles from home, meaning the 114.4 million number includes Wisconsinites traveling between communities.
The visitor economy also generated $1.7 billion in state and local taxes, offsetting taxes for residents by $678 per household, according to a report from the tourism department.
While most counties did see their economic impact from tourism increase last year, several saw decreases, according to state data. Counties with declines in tourism economic impact include Ashland, Clark, Forest, Grant, Iowa, Iron, Juneau, Lafayette, Monroe, Taylor and Trempealeau.