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closeWhatcom County tourism has been a booming industry in recent years, so it'll be interesting to see if it continues if the national economy remains sluggish.
Dean Runyan Associates recently released the Washington State, County Travel Impacts 1991-2007 report. Visitors spent $453.7 million in Whatcom County in 2007, a 7.4 percent increase from 2006, according to the report. Tourism spending has become a significant part of this area's overall retail sales, which totaled $3.2 billion last year. Whatcom currently ranks fifth in the state for overall visitor spending, behind King, Snohomish, Pierce and Spokane counties.
What jumped out at me was what's been happening in the past four years - last year's tourism spending was 25.4 percent higher than in 2004. In the previous four years (2000-2003), the increase was just 10.4 percent. It should be noted that the 2000-to-2003 period was marked by a national recession, while the last four years has been a period of economic growth regionally.
The industry that saw some of the biggest gains year-over-year was hotels and motels. Visitors spent $62.9 million on accommodations locally, a 12.7 percent increase over 2006.
"I'm very encouraged by the growth in room occupancy; when visitors stay overnight, they tend to spend more in our area," said Loni Rahm, president and CEO of Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism.
It's getting to the point where we may see more hotels entering the market. Rahm said she's heard from hotel companies doing feasibility reports on the area.
"I think we have to build up the off-season numbers, but we're getting to the point (where more hotels will enter the market)," Rahm said.
With the economy slowing down nationally this summer, Rahm gets a sense from her members that hotels maintained their room occupancy rates, but restaurants and retailers were seeing less spending this summer. Many retail members told her that visitors weren't spending as much on non-essentials as they were the previous year.
"We'll see what the numbers are, but I think 2008 is one of those years where we see a little growth in visitor spending, which is good considering the economic uncertainty we've seen," Rahm said.
Tourism is one of those economic drivers that has plenty of upside. Visitors generated $32.3 million in taxes - $7.1 million of which went into city and county coffers. For the amount of money spent, compared to the types of services they use, it appears to be a good bargain. Visitors don't use a variety of services, such as public schools, and use reduced levels of other services, such as the fire department.
Rahm cited a study from The Travel Industry Association that said if there were no tourism in the U.S., each taxpayer would have to pay $956 more in taxes to maintain current levels of service. Visitors tend to pay more taxes on products than residents for things such as food - eating out at restaurants rather than going to the grocery store, for example.
Looking ahead, Rahm expects to see significant growth in agriculture tourism and in the arts.
"We have such a strong ag base and the idea of knowing where your food is coming from is getting more popular," Rahm said. "As we continue to develop the arts district (in downtown Bellingham), we're getting to that critical mass level where this area will become more of a destination place."
To see the complete report, visit www.experiencewashington.com/industry and click the research/economic impact links.
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