Report: Visitors Spent $12.3B In Wisconsin In 2016

Tourists spent more than $12 billion in Wisconsin last year.

That’s according to new reports the state Department of Tourism released Friday. They found visitors spent $12.3 billion in the state in 2016, up 3.3 percent from $11.9 billion in 2015.

Milwaukee County saw the most tourism spending of any county in the state at $1.9 billion. That’s up almost 4 percent from 2015. Dane County was second with $1.2 billion, up about 5 percent from the previous year.

The reports found tourism accounted for nearly $20 billion in total sales in 2016, generating $1.5 billion in state and local taxes and directly or indirectly supported 193,454 jobs.

Gov. Scott Walker planned to visit Madison, La Crosse, Appleton and Minocqua on Friday to tout the reports.