May 09--Total business sales generated by visitors grew by $7 million last year in Eau Claire County, according to an annual study released by the Wisconsin Department of Tourism.

The finding reinforces "the power of tourism to the broad-based local economy," said Linda John, executive director of Visit Eau Claire, which promotes tourism in the city.

The total in Eau Claire County last year reached $308.7 million, 2.3 percent higher than in 2011. Direct spending rose 1.3 percent to $188.8 million, which ranked 15th out of the state's 72 counties. The top two counties in direct sales were Milwaukee ($1.6 billion) and Dane ($971 million).

Overall spending in Dunn County rose 4.8 percent to $70.6 million, and direct spending increased 4.6 percent to $41 million. Chippewa County had slight declines, respectively, of 0.1 and 1.7 percent.

Total business sales take into account three areas: direct impact, indirect impact and induced impact. Visitor expenditures on recreation, lodging, restaurants and attractions make up the first category, while the flow of expenditures as they're traced to food wholesalers and farmers, utilities, marketing and other sectors are in the second. Induced impact results from tourism employees spending their wages in the local economy through additional jobs, taxes and wages, John said.

According to the report, tourism spending directly supported 3,958 full-time equivalent travel industry jobs in Eau Claire County and generated $86.2 million in wages and salaries. In the three-county area, those figures increased to 6,115 and $130 million.

"The Chippewa Valley performed quite well in overall visitor spending in 2012, which was consistent with our other key indicator of growth. We have experienced growth in room tax collections in the past year," John said. "The past few years have continued to show visitor spending increases, despite some challenges in the market, so we are pleased with the continued strength of the tourism economy."

And there remains room for growth. Charles Kaiser, general manager and co-owner of Americas Best Value Inn-Campus View in Eau Claire, said business rose in 2010 after a sluggish performance the previous year. It has been relatively flat since, but he expects improvement in 2013.

"The area we struggle is (in) citywide hotel occupancy rates, and the bottom line is that we are forced to turn away a lot of group business in the meetings/conventions and sports markets due to lack of access to or availability of suitable facilities," John said. "We are working on some short-term solutions to that and hope to have an announcement in a couple of weeks regarding a new partnership.

"Long term, there is still a need for indoor venues to host large groups that would like to come to Eau Claire."

Dave Burke, who owns The Florian Gardens in Eau Claire, said meetings increased 25 to 30 percent last year. The number of weddings the banquet hall attracted was steady, but guest counts increased.

The top categories for combined direct spending in Eau Claire, Dunn and Chippewa counties were lodging, 26 percent; food, 25 percent; shopping, 21 percent; and recreation, 13 percent. Total business sales statewide rose 4.8 percent to $16.8 billion, and direct sales grew 5 percent to $10.4 billion.

"The past two years have been outstanding for Wisconsin's tourism industry, and the two-year $2 billion growth that is reported in the research confirms what we hear from businesses and destinations as I travel the state," state Department of Tourism Secretary Stephanie Klett said in a news release.

Marlaire can be reached at 715-833-9215, 800-236-7077 or [email protected].

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