Economic report looks at resident travelers
<p>A tourist from Colorado photographs a scene along Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park. Tourism continues to be an economic engine for the state.</p>
Montana saw a 3.2 percent increase in out-of-state travelers and a 15 percent increase in resident travelers this year over 2011, and the state’s tourist industry and other businesses felt the impact.
Visitation to Montana’s six National Park Service sites through the first three quarters was about 9 percent higher than in 2011. That includes a 21 percent increase at Glacier National Park and a 2 percent increase at Yellowstone National Park. The big increase at Glacier Park was attributed to an earlier opening of the Going-to-the-Sun Road over Logan Pass.
Resident and nonresident travelers spent about $3.6 billion in Montana in 2011-2012, according to figures from the University of Montana’s Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research.
That combined spending created $4.3 billion in direct, indirect and induced impacts to the state’s economy, provided 50,670 Montana jobs with $1.1 billion in wages, salaries and compensation, and accounted for $360 million in state and local tax revenue.
Resident travel alone created $1 billion in total economic impacts, provided 11,830 jobs with $281 million in employee compensation, and accounted for nearly $85 million in state and local tax revenue.
About 38 percent of resident travel expenditures went to gasoline and oil, about 22 percent went to restaurants and bars, and about 15 percent went to hotels, camping and other lodging.
In their November 2012 report on resident travel in Montana from July 2011 through June 2012, Institute researchers Kara Grau and Norma Nickerson reported 77 percent of Montanans take at least one in-state pleasure trip of 50 or more miles every year. That added up to 15.4 million person-trips for pleasure in a year.
Most Montanans travel in-state in July through September. The next highest quarter for travel is October through December, which includes the holiday season.
Outdoor recreation and visiting friends and relatives are the top-two reasons for resident travel, with outdoor recreation the No. 1 reason in the summer months and visiting friends and relatives the No. 1 reason in the fall. The top-five activities were scenic driving, shopping, day hiking, fishing and visiting historical sites and museums.
Average overnight pleasure trips for residents were 2.12 nights. The larger cities and communities along I-90 were the best predictors for roads traveled and overnight visits. The top-10 communities for overnight stays by residents were Billings, Bozeman, Butte, Great Falls, Helena, Kalispell, Miles City, Missoula, West Yellowstone and Whitefish.