New research out this week shows North Carolina's tourism industry is growing as visitor spending increased by more than four percent last year.
Visitors spent a record $22.9 billion in 2016 according to a report commissioned by Visit North Carolina.
Wit Tuttell with the state Economic Development Partnership says “visitor” is defined as anyone who travels more than 50 miles. That includes North Carolina residents.
Tuttell says the numbers don't surprise him. While there were actually fewer tourists last year, they spent more and stayed longer. And that has tax benefits for people who live here.
“For every household in North Carolina, they save $497 because these visitors come and they pay taxes and they leave, and they don't use the services that we residents use,” he says.
The report also found another record-breaking number: last year, there were over 218,000 tourism-related jobs in North Carolina.