Report: Nearly 7 percent jump
Visitors to Dutchess County spent more than $642 million last year, a jump of 6.8 percent from 2017, according to a report by Tourism Economics.
The firm is commissioned each year by New York State to study the impact of tourism. This is the ninth consecutive year that spending has increased in Dutchess; the county has seen revenue grow by 26 percent since 2014.
More than 4.75 million people visited in 2018, contributing $45 million in local and $35 million in state taxes, the report said. If not for that revenue, it calculated, the average Dutchess household would pay an additional $743 to maintain the same level of services.
Tourism supports more than 11,000 jobs in the county, the report found, and wages increased 8 percent in the sector over 2017.
