Morris County Tourism Grows for Seventh Consecutive Year
Published on March 20, 2017
Tourism Expenditures of $2,1 billion reported in 2016 €“ up 3.3%
(JPG, 68KB)Tourism in Morris County contributed a record $2.1 billion to the local and state economy in 2016, up by more than 3 percent -- a seventh straight year of gains, according to a report prepared for the state.
Morris County ranked as the 8th most productive county out of 21 in regards to total tourism activity in 2016. Nearly 22,000 people were directly employed in tourism industry, which represent 5.5% of the Morris County work force. Additionally, $290,000,000 in taxes were added to state and local coffers, an increase of 2.8 percent, said the report prepared for the state by Tourism Economics.
Original Tourism Board logo which was recently replaced.
"We could not be more pleased with this upward trend that reflects the continued growth and economic power of tourism to our county, said Morris County Tourism Bureau Executive Director Leslie Bensley.
Morris County is a work horse for the State of New Jersey €“ we consistently bring in leisure and business travelers who enjoy our 5,500 hotel rooms along with some of the most revered history and cultural attractions in the northeast.
Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno announced on March 9, at the New Jersey Tourism Conference, that the state's overall tourism industry generated $44.1 billion, a 2.9 percent bump over 2015. Morris County's expenditure rose by 3.3% in the same period.
The report done by Tourism Economics measures the industry by providing a methodology for calculating tourism GDP that enables comparisons of the importance of tourism to other sectors of the NJ economy.
Cognizant of the importance of growing tourism in Morris County, the Morris County Tourism Bureau recently changed its logo -- replacing a logo that had been in place for 20 -- to a new destination-focused logo €“ Discover Morris County, Est. 1733. The goal is to drive more visitation to our area with this clear and more specific branding campaign that includes a new logo, an integrated color scheme and fonts, along with a soon-to-be-unveiled makeover of the www.morristourism.org website.