La Crosse County sees record breaking economic tourism numbers in 2023

LA CROSSE, Wis. (WEAU) – Wisconsin’s Department of Tourism says in 2023, La Crosse County broke personal records with $307 million in direct visitor spending. The county also reached just over $500 million in economic impact.
“For La Crosse County to surpass the half a billion mark is huge. That’s great for us. It’s tells us what an impact tourism really has on the county and the entire region,” says Explore La Crosse Executive Director AJ Frels.
Justin Harriman is the general manager of The Crow. He says, for business owners, it is great to see more tourism coming to the region.
“We’re grateful for everybody in town and having tourism on top of that is huge for our downtown businesses. Not only us, but I can speak for the other downtown business as well. A very large part of our operations are having tourism come in town,” says Harriman.
Hotels in the area, like Charmant, also benefit form high amounts of tourism. General Manager Kalynn Krueger says she sees many people checking in because of events that are going on in the area, such as Oktoberfest or the Rotary Lights.
“For us, tourism is not necessarily just thinking people driving or flying from far out, but also local. The more that we get to bring people into the area, the more they get to see how beautiful the landscape is and all these wonderful small businesses,” says Krueger.
Frels credits the increasing tourism numbers to the collaboration between the county’s event centers, hotels, restaurants, and storefronts.
“Everybody works together. That’s one of the things that makes La Crosse County and the entire region so special, is that we do have a great collaborative effort amongst all the businesses and the communities that we represent, and that’s really what makes this attainable.
According to Explore La Crosse, La Crosse County ranked ninth out of 72 Wisconsin counties in tourism impact numbers.
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