The Missouri Division of Tourism tells the legislature more than 36 million visitors came to Missouri last year.
Director of the Division of Tourism Katie Danner says visitors spend $12.3 billion here last year and contributed $669 million in tax revenue. She says for every dollar the state spends on tourism funding, it makes $2.50, a good return. Most of that goes to marketing.
Danner says the Division of Tourism is working to get even more motor coaches into the state … a big money maker. She says the state brings in about $22,000 per motor coach.
While tourism numbers were down in 2009, Danner says Missouri didn’t suffer as much as our surrounding states, and did much better than the national average. And she says more people are requesting visitor guides via Web, an indicator of an upswing in traffic this year.
She says the division sends out about 230,000 Visit Missouri guides each year. Anyone can request one be sent to them through the division’s Web site.
AUDIO: Jessica Machetta report 2 min MP3
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