(The Center Square) – Even with Hurricane Helene disrupting one-fourth of the calendar year, North Carolina set a domestic tourism record of $36.7 billion in 2024.
The report offers insight to direct visitor spending, direct economic impacts, jobs and tax impacts. The preliminary numbers will later reflect county by county breakdowns.
The previous record was $35.6 billion in 2023.
Jobs in tourism-supported workforce rose 1.4% to 230,338, and payroll rose 2.6% to $9.5 billion. Associated tax revenues, says a release from state government, were $2.7 billion.
Gov. Josh Stein’s release says international travelers spent $1.2 billion, up 16.5% from the previous year; visitors collectively spend $100 million per day; and each household in the state saved $593 on average “in state and local taxes as a direct result of visitor spending in the state. Savings per capita averaged $241.”
“North Carolinians in all 100 counties benefit from the money that visitors spend,” said Lee Lilley, secretary of the Commerce Department. “From our smallest towns to our largest cities, tourism means jobs for more than 50,000 small businesses and our first-in-talent workforce. These workers address travelers’ needs for transportation as well as lodging, dining, shopping and recreation.”
Prior to COVID-19, the record was $29.2 billion in 2019. The pandemic impact was ongoing in 2020 ($19.9 billion) and 2021 ($28.9 billion), with 2022 climbing to $33.3 billion.
North Carolina, up to 11 million in population per the latest U.S. Census estimates, gained more than 160,000 people in the 12 months ending July 1.
