The license plates used to say, "Variety Vacationland" as a tribute to the many vacation spots in North Carolina. (Still not sure why they no longer do, but that's another blog post.) In short, tourism has been big business in this state for a long time.
Turns out, maybe we should really focus on it.
"Visitors to North Carolina spent a record $17 billion in 2010. This is an increase of 9 percent from 2009, according to a report released this week," said the NCNN.
Lynn Minges, the Assistant Secretary of Tourism with the North Carolina Department of Commerce, said tourism is a significant part of the North Carolina economy. "Tourism is generating or pumping everyday $2.6 million into state tax coffers. As our legislature and decision makers are rustling with the state budget, this is an industry that is pumping dollar into the general fund on a daily basis," said Minges.
Visitor spending directly generated a total of more than $1.5 billion in state and local tax revenues. State tax revenues from visitor spending increased 12.6 percent and have increased 16.2 percent since 2007.
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