BOONE, Iowa — A new study shows tourists in Iowa spent $7.3 billion for the first time.

The Iowa Visitor Economic Impact data, released for 2023 by the Iowa Tourism Office, reports that tourism-related expenditures totaled $7.3 billion for the first time in the state’s history. That’s a 5.1% increase from 2022. On average, visitors spent nearly $20 million per day experiencing all that Iowa has to offer.

“It means were out of kind of the Covid slump, tourism has rebounded and visitation is strong,” said Chelsea Lerud, Executive Director at Iowa Travel Industry Partners. “The Iowa Tourism Office conducts it every year and they do it in partnership with Tourism Economics, they are a national tourism research firm so they do the study for many states all across the United States, and so we always receive these numbers in the fall for the previous year.”

In Boone County local organizations do what they can to bring visitors to this county.

“I do a lot of out of state travel shows and try to tell people all the great things that they can see and do in Boone County,” said Kris Blocker, of Visit Boone County. “Boone Speedway, Super Nationals had record numbers again. They continue to have great numbers here at the Boone Scenic Valley Railroad. Ledges State Park is one of the beloved parks here in the state of Iowa they have amazing numbers down there as well.”

One tourism attraction is Boone County’s newest draw. The Iowa Arboretum has added a $2 million dollar treehouse, which opened in September.

“An attraction that attracts new visitors, different demographics out into nature, getting families with children,” said Kim Anderson, Marketing Director of the Iowa Arboretum. “We partner together to make Boone County and Iowa as a whole better for everybody.”

“We’re thrilled by the continued growth in Iowa’s tourism industry,” said Amy Zeigler, manager of the Iowa Tourism Office, in a news release. “We look forward to continuing the momentum and seeing more travelers experience all that Iowa offers.”

The study also revealed that travel-generated state and local tax receipts totaled $1.1 billion last year, which is enough to pay the salaries of over 19,000 public-school teachers in Iowa. According to the study, if the state didn’t generate this amount of visitor spending, each household would have to contribute an additional $857 in taxes to make up for the shortfall.

Tourism in the state supported 70,954 jobs, or about 5.4% of the total employment in Iowa. The total income generated by tourism was $2.5 billion, about $1,910 for each household.

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