During the months from spring to fall (a.k.a. The *real* best time of the year), the streets downtown are more crowded, parking is scarce + Main Street is crawling with cars. Most of us, especially those working in the service industry, consider these nine months as “tourist season”. Since today is #NationalTourismDay, we thought we would take a look at how tourism affects our local economy.
The population of Greenville (city) is right at 65,245 and while that is considered small in comparison to Charlotte + large compared to rural areas nearby, it’s well known that Greenville comes in at no. 1 when it comes to out-of-towners checking out our city (and mountains).
Now before you complain about how the tourists need to go home, there are two sides to every story. Like, a ton of $$ coming into our local economy from tourists.
Tourism by the numbers
Average number of sunny days each year: 220
Number of hotel rooms downtown: 1,000+
Number of hotel rooms in Greenville County: 9,000+
Number of yearly Greenville events: 300+ event days
Local hospitality tax: 2%
Money generated from visitors (direct spending): $1.14 billion (yes, BILLION.)
State + local tax money generated from visitors: $67.7 million (Tourism annually decreases Greenville households’ tax burden by $826.00 in local and state taxes.)
Where do all those tourism tax dollars go? To fund facilities, new parks and recreation amenities, museums and attractions + festivals and events.
How do we benefit from all the tourists? Visitor spending benefits Greenville County residents with $254 million in wages and salaries.
