Visitors Spent $3.4B in Montana Last Year

Last year 12.5 million visitors contributed nearly $3.4 billion in travel spending, according to a recent report from the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research at the University of Montana. But the 2017 fire season may have stifled the state’s potential gains.

Forty-seven percent – or 5.8 million – of visitors traveled to the state in the third quarter from July through September and spent 52 percent of the $3.4 billion. Travel groups spent an average of $130.75 per day, for a total of $1.7 billion during the summer months.

Yet, it is likely that this figure would have been even higher had it not been for the severe smoke and fire season Montana experienced during 2017.

http://news.umt.edu/2018/03/032718trav.php