At a press conference on 20 December, Gov. Phil Scott and Tourism Commissioner Wendy Knight released the 2017 biennial Vermont Tourism Benchmark Report.
Highlights:
- 13M visitors
- $2.8B spend
- $391M tax revenue - large jump in 2017 caused by receipts from Airbnb
- 32,000 jobs
- Ski resorts and vacation-home owners make important contributions.
- 95% of accommodation sales are associated with tourism.
Considering the importance of tourism to the Vermont economy, it's curious that the state has chosen to withdraw from Discover New England. Related to numbers of vacation-home owners vs. transients maybe?