Who we are: A 501 C-6 Non-Profit with a Board of 6 Members and a staff of 2
Mission Statement: To attract visitors to Marshfield through marketing, development of attractions and�events to create economic impact.
Funding: Primarily Hotel Room Tax based on State Statue 66.0615
The Wisconsin Visitor Industry - 2023
May 2024
Prepared for: Wisconsin Department of Tourism
ECONOMIC IMPACTS
KEY FINDINGS
SUMMARY ECONOMIC IMPACTS
Wisconsin Tourism (2023)
Wisconsin received 113.0 million visits in 2023, a 1.8 million increase. Visitor spending grew 5.0% in 2023, an increase of $750 million.
VISITS AND VISITOR SPENDING
TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT
Wisconsin visitor activity generated a total economic impact (measured by total business sales) of $25.0 billion in 2023. Tourism’s economic impact in 2023 grew 5.4% as visitor spending growth combined with strengthening tourism business spending on services.
These business sales supported 178,045 jobs and generated $1.6 billion in state and local tax revenues in 2023. The state and local tax revenue equates to a benefit of $660 per occupied household in Wisconsin.
113.0 MILLION
Visits to Wisconsin in 2023
$25.0B
Total Economic Impact
178,045
Total Jobs
Generated
$1.6B
State & Local Taxes Generated
$15.7B
Direct Visitor Spending
$15.7 BILLION
Visitor Spending in 2023
4
VISITS &
VISITOR SPENDING
VISITOR VOLUME
Normalization of growth in 2023
Visitor volumes increased by 1.8 million to reach 113 million. Strength in leisure visitation continued with visitation growth also supported by growth in international travel in 2023.
Visitor activity in Wisconsin in 2023 moved beyond the recovery phase as growth rates in visitation and visitor spending moderated, returning to pre-pandemic norms. Continued strong interest in travel by consumers moderated by less-consumer friendly macro-economic trends like higher interest rates were driving forces behind 2023 results.
Wisconsin visitor spending
Amounts in $ billions, percentages are YOY
Lodging, including short-term rentals and second homes, accounts for the largest share of visitor spending in Wisconsin at 27.4%.
Surpassing $4 billion, 26.2% of a visitor's trip budget was spent on food & beverages.
Retail’s $3.0 billion in spending from visitors was 19.1% of the visitor dollar with transportation and recreation/entertainment services each representing 13-14% of total visitor spending in Wisconsin in 2023.
Visitor spending grows to
$15.7 billion in 2023.
VISITOR SPENDING
$13.7
$9.8
$12.9
16.3%
$15.0
5.0%
$15.7
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Sources: Longwoods International, Tourism Economics
Wisconsin visitor volume
Amounts in millions, percentages are YOY
113.2
90.7
102.3
111.1
113.0
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Sources: Longwoods International, Tourism Economics
8.7%
1.7%
-19.8%
12.7%
-28.3%
31.1%
Source: Tourism Economics
Note: Lodging spending also includes dollars spent on short-term rentals and second homes. Transportation includes both air and local transportation.
5
VISITOR SPENDING TRENDS
Continued pent-up demand for experiences by visitors helped drive increases in food &
Wisconsin visitor spending and annual growth
Amounts in $ millions and 2023 % change
Source: Longwoods International; Tourism Economics
* Lodging includes short-term rentals and other second home spending
** Transportation includes both ground and air transportation
Visitor volume and spending
Amounts in millions of persons, $ millions, and $ per person
Wisconsin spending share by segment
Percent % of total visitor spending by market
Per visitor spending | $121 | $108 | $126 | $135 | $139 |
Day | $69 | $70 | $70 | $75 | $79 |
Overnight | $206 | $178 | $213 | $221 | $227 |
Source: Tourism Economics | | | | | |
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
Total visitors | 113.2 | 90.7 | 102.3 | 111.1 | 113.0 |
Total visitor spending $13,668 | $9,804 | $12,856 | $14,956 | $15,707 | |
Day | $4,839 | $4,070 | $4,335 | $4,927 | $5,281 |
Overnight | $8,829 | $5,733 | $8,522 | $10,029 | $10,426 |
VISITOR SEGMENTS
Day traveler spending pushed through the $5 billion level in 2023 with day spending growing 7.2%.
Spending by overnight visitors reached
$10.4 billion in 2023. With 45.9 million
overnight person-trips in Wisconsin, spending by an overnight visitor grew to
$227 per-person trip.
Overall, per-visitor spending grew to
$139 in 2023, up from $135 in 2022.
Leisure
89.4%
Overnight
66.4%
Domestic
97.5%
Business
10.6%
International,
2.5%
75% | | | | Day, 33.6% | | | | Day | 70.4 | 58.5 | 62.3 | 65.7 | 67.1 |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | Overnight | 42.8 | 32.3 | 39.9 | 45.4 | 45.9 |
beverage and recreation/entertainment spending, supporting overall visitor spending | | | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2023 Growth |
growth of 5.0%. Spending grew $750 million in 2023. Recreation/entertainment spending | | Total visitor spending | $13,668 | $9,804 | $12,856 | $14,956 | $15,707 | 5.0% |
growth led all categories, increasing by 7.0% to surpass $2 billion. | | Lodging* | $3,683 | $2,407 | $3,491 | $4,130 | $4,305 | 4.2% |
Despite declining gas prices, increased visits, a jump in air travel, and an uptick in miles | | Food & beverage | $3,549 | $2,622 | $3,407 | $3,871 | $4,120 | 6.4% |
traveled supported moderate growth in overall transportation spending. | | Retail | $2,690 | $2,222 | $2,647 | $2,894 | $2,994 | 3.5% |
| | Rec/Entertainment | $1,948 | $1,221 | $1,642 | $1,969 | $2,108 | 7.0% |
| | Transportation** | $1,798 | $1,331 | $1,669 | $2,091 | $2,180 | 4.3% |
0%
25%
50%
100%
Purpose
Day/Overnight
Market
Source: Tourism Economics
6
VISITOR SPENDING DISTRIBUTION - LEVELS
Several spending categories reached and exceeded key milestones in 2023. Increasing by $250 million, food & beverage spending by visitors exceeded $4 billion. Recreation and entertainment spending surpassed the $2 billion level, reaching $2.1 billion in 2023. Nearing a milestone was retail spending by visitors, closing in on the $3 billion level.
Recreation and entertainment spending increased $140 million in 2023 as tour- and experiential-travel drove visitor interests.
Source: Tourism Economics
Visitor Spending in Wisconsin, 2019-2023
By category, amounts in $ billions
2019 2020
Source: Tourism Economics
VISITOR SPENDING DISTRIBUTION - SHARES
Price changes and traveler interests drove category share changes in 2023. Interest in entertainment and recreational experiences increased the share of the visitor dollar spent on recreation/entertainment to 13.4% and food & beverages to 26.2%.
While retail spending remains a key part of some visitor trips, the movement away from
material goods in 2023 dropped the visitor retail share to 19.1%.
Visitor Spending Shares in Wisconsin, 2019-2023
By category, %
3.68
2.41
3.49
4.13
4.30
3.55
2.62
3.41
3.87
4.12
2.69
2.22
2.65
2.89
2.99
1.95
1.22
1.64
1.97
2.11
1.80
1.33
1.67
2.09
2.18
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
Transportation
Rec/Entmt
Retail
Food & beverage
Lodging
26.9%
24.6%
27.2%
27.6%
27.4%
26.0%
26.7%
26.5%
25.9%
26.2%
19.7%
22.7%
20.6%
19.4%
19.1%
13.2% | | 13.6% | | 13.0% | | 14.0% | | 13.9% |
14.2% | | 12.5% | | 12.8% | | 13.2% | | 13.4% |
| | | | | | | | |
2021
2022
2023
Transportation
Rec/Entmt
Retail
Food & beverage
Lodging
7
VISITOR SPENDING SEASONALITY
Visitor spending in the key summer months neared $5 billion in 2023, nearly a third of all visitor spending during the year. The summer months have also seen the largest spending jump over 2019 levels, with the $5 billion in spending representing an increase of $660 million over pre-pandemic levels.
Growth during 2023 was centered in the first half of the year, with Q1 jumping 12% to surpass $3 billion. Visitor spending increased $330 million in the first quarter, the largest increase among the four quarters.
The 5% jump in spending in Q2 helped push visitor spending in the spring and early summer to over $4 billion.
Q1 Q2
Source: Tourism Economics
Wisconsin quarterly visitor spending, 2019-2023
Amounts in $ millions, 2019 & 2023 values
Source: Tourism Economics
Visitor spending by quarter
Amounts in $ millions
$2,746
$3,505
$3,085
$3,055
$4,989
$4,332
$4,050
$3,613
Q3
Q4
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
-20%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
-40%
-60%
Source: Tourism Economics
Wisconsin visitor spending growth rates
Compared with same quarter a year ago, %
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 | ||||
2019 | $2,746 | $3,505 | $4,332 | $3,085 |
2020 | $2,726 | $1,743 | $3,141 | $2,194 |
2021 | $2,088 | $3,103 | $4,493 | $3,171 |
2022 | $2,726 | $3,838 | $4,855 | $3,537 |
2023 | $3,055 | $4,050 | $4,989 | $3,613 |
% Change | 12.1% | 5.5% | 2.7% | 2.1% |
| | | | |
8
EMPLOYMENT - DIRECT IMPACTS
Employment directly supported by visitor activity rose 2.5% in 2023, growing to 125,921 jobs. The number of jobs jumped by more than 3,100 in 2023. Despite the increase, the number of jobs directly supported by visitors remains around 19,000 jobs below pre- pandemic levels.
Job growth in key industries in 2023 was strong, reaching 5% in lodging, 4.5% in the restaurant industry and 6% in the arts & recreation industry. Employment growth in retail and transportation industries were positive but only in the 1-3% ranges, limiting visitor- supported employment growth.
Recovery in visitor-supported jobs has been slower than spending, with visitor-supported employment levels at 87% of pre-pandemic levels compared to 115% of spending.
Direct visitor-supported employment, Wisconsin
Amounts in number of jobs
144,657
107,454
118,483
122,799
125,921
2019 2020
Source: Tourism Economics
2021
2022
2023
3.6%
-25.7%
10.3%
2.5%
IN CONTEXT
9
ECONOMIC IMPACTS
$25.0B
ECONOMIC IMPACT
The $25 billion in total business sales supported by visitors in Wisconsin is larger than the revenue of the NFL ($20 billion).
$750M
VISITOR SPENDING INCREASE
The $750 million increase in visitor spending would buy about 105 million pounds of Wisconsin bratwurst – enough to provide 80% of all US households with a pound of brats.
178,045
TOTAL JOBS
The total number of jobs sustained by tourism would employ every resident of Winnebago County, the 7th largest county in Wisconsin.
$1.6B
STATE & LOCAL TAXES
Each household in Wisconsin would need to be taxed an additional $660 to replace the visitor taxes received by the state and local governments in 2023.
CELEBRATING
Marshfield Nightlife
HIGHLIGHTS
Destination Statistics
180,739
Vehicles through large animal drive
35,400
Vandehey Waters Visitors
14
Hub City Concerts
18,079
Wildwood Zoo Visitors
Number of Ballfield Usages
Source: Marshfield Parks & Recreation
made new
marshfield
Visit
Website Statistics
20,292
Q4 Website Users
42,189
Q4 Website Views
Users ↑ 1.65%
Top 5 Cities of Users (Regional)
Audience Ages
102,294
2023 Website Users
208,521
2023 Website Views
125,067
2023 Website Sessions
23,888
Q4 Website Sessions
Avg. Session Duration ↑ 33.33%
Source: Google Analytics
made new
marshfield
Visit
Social Media Statistics
Top 5 Cities of Users (Regional)
27,867
Facebook Followers
3.5M
Facebook Impressions
Top 5 Cities of Users (Regional)
Audience Ages
Audience Ages
693,803
Facebook Reach
Cumulative
↑ 120%
1,912
Instagram Followers
134,545
Instagram Reach
Cumulative
↑ 99.8%
↑ 85.7%
Source: Meta/Facebook
2,120
NUMBER OF JOBS
STATE & LOCAL TAXES
$12.6M
VISITOR SPENDING
$110.8M
BUSINESS SALES
$211M
Wood County Economic impact
Source: Wisconsin Department of Tourism
| Total Economic Impact | Direct Visitor Spending | Employment | Total Labor Income | State and Local Taxes | ||||||||||
| Millions | % | Millions | % | Total | % | Millions | % | Millions | % | |||||
County | 2022 | 2023 | Change | 2022 | 2023 | Change | 2022 | 2023 | Change | 2022 | 2023 | Change | 2022 | 2023 | Change |
Wood Co. $198 $211 6.6% $103.6 $110.8 7.0% 2,118 2,120 0.1% $77.7 $81.7 5.1% $12.1 $12.6 3.7%
Visit Marshfield Grant Recipients
2024
Visit Marshfield Grant Recipients
2024
Sixteen” Anniversary Party
Demolition Derby
Visit Marshfield Grant Recipients
2024
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