May 13--BUSINESS TRAVEL -- and meetings and convention travel -- helped tourism in Wisconsin weather a slumping national economy in 2007.

Expenditures by business travelers increased from $2.42 billion to $2.43 billion, and spending by meetings and convention travelers climbed from $1.28 billion to $1.36 billion, according to a report conducted by Davidson Peterson Associates titled "Economic Impact of Expenditures by Travelers on Wisconsin." That performance helped the state attract a total of $12.78 billion in tourism expenditures in 2007, a slim 0.4 percent decrease from the previous year despite an economy contending with rising fuel prices, a slumping housing industry and other factors.

Becky Welke, general manager of The Plaza Hotel and Suites in Eau Claire, said 2007 was a good year in terms of business travel, and early indications are that 2008 will be as well.

"We had a very good 2007, with meetings and conventions our strength as it was this April," she said. "We had a record-breaking April with conferences every week."

The Chippewa Valley, however, was hit with some significant decreases in revenue from tourism expenditures. Eau Claire County slipped from $182.4 million in 2006 to $171.2 million last year. Dunn County declined slightly, from $54.4 million to $53.2 million, while Chippewa County's revenues increased from $86.4 million to $91 million.

Milwaukee County ranked first among Wisconsin counties in 2007 with $1.68 billion in tourism expenditures. Eau Claire County was 18th, Chippewa was 36th and Dunn was 53rd.

"The good news is that Eau Claire has maintained its ranking of 18th of 72 counties in terms of visitor spending for 2007," said Linda Adler, executive director of the Chippewa Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau. "Chippewa Valley-wide, spending was $315,400,000.

"While we are pleased with the amount of visitor spending fueling the Chippewa Valley economy, we are disappointed in the estimated loss of $8 million from (the previous) year's spending estimates."

Adler also said the Chippewa Valley did not benefit from increased business travel as much as other regions.

"On a statewide basis, there was a 6 percent increase in the meetings and conventions spending, yet in Eau Claire our largest decreases in spending occurred in the spring (-12.8 percent) and fall (-6.8 percent) quarters, when a lot of convention activity typically occurs," she said. "That suggests that we are losing ground in the ability to compete for meetings and conventions.

"The Wisconsin Department of Tourism credits the influx statewide of new product development (convention centers and convention hotels) for the increases in the statewide convention business. As Eau Claire continues to lack truly competitive facilities in this area, we are starting to see the erosion of our market share, and it will continue to be a primary focus of the Chippewa Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau as we continue to advocate for the benefits of more competitive tourism-generating facilities."

The June-August quarter was the biggest draw for most counties, accounting for 40 percent of revenue in Chippewa County, 36 percent in Dunn and 35 percent in Eau Claire.

The report, commissioned by the state Department of Tourism, showed that Eau Claire and Dunn counties suffered significant losses of full-time equivalent jobs supported by the industry. Eau Claire fell 24 percent from 2,821 in 2006 to 2,134 the following year, and Dunn fell 21 percent from 840 to 663. Despite its increase in expenditures, Chippewa County jobs also declined by 15 percent, from 1,337 to 1,134.

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