Tourism generated a record-high $25.8 billion in economic impact in Wisconsin last year, surpassing the previous record of $25 billion set in 2023.
Gov. Tony Evers and the Department of Tourism also announced this morning 114.4 million people visited Wisconsin in 2024, another record. That was up 1.4 million people compared to 2023 and topped the former record of 113.2 million set in 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic put a dent in the state’s tourism industry.
Altogether, the industry generated $1.7 billion in state and local revenue last year, according to the Evers administration.
The tourism industry also supported 181,898 part-time and full-time jobs across sectors in 2024, growing 2.2 percent from the previous year.
The five counties that saw the largest impact from tourism last year are:
- Milwaukee County, $4.3 billion
- Dane County, $2.6 billion
- Sauk County, $2 billion
- Waukesha County $1.8 billion
- Brown County $1.4 billion
The Evers administration said the impact included $16.3 billion in direct spending by tourists, while the 181,898 jobs in the tourism industry generated more than $7 billion in labor income.
