OKC tourism brings people, revenue

With the warmer weather comes festival season and more tourists. Oklahoma City has a lot to show off to visitors, from Bricktown and downtown’s events and activities to the Oklahoma River and special events at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds, sporting events at ASA Hall of Fame and the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

Tourism is an important economic development tool for our city and our state. The Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department commissioned an economic impact study in 2016, which showed tourism as Oklahoma’s third-largest industry, generating $634 million in state and local tax revenue every year. Oklahoma County attracted $2.2 billion of the state’s total travel spending of $8.6 billion.

Visitors spent $1.6 billion in Oklahoma County in 2015, with non-transportation spending (meaning all money except for the amount spent on airfare, gas and other transportation costs) accounting for nearly $1.4 billion.

Tourism also has a significant impact on employment. In 2015, Oklahoma County’s travel and tourism industry directly employed 22,270 people and generated $536.9 million in earnings. For the Oklahoma City metro area, the travel industry provides more than 32,000 jobs with $725 million in payroll resulting from those jobs.

Read the full article at The Journal Record