Governor Andy Beshear last week said that 2022 was a strong year for tourism, with the industry generating more than $12,9 billion in economic impact across the commonwealth.
Tourism on the local level also had a strong year.
“For Hardin County, tourism accounted for 2,472 jobs,” said Elizabethtown Tourism Director of Marketing Krysta Souleyrette. “The labor income from those jobs was $69.51 million in Hardin County. In state and local taxes, tourism generated $26.7 million, and visitors spent $335.57 million in 2022 in Hardin County.”
Souleyrette says tourism numbers for the county represent both a rebound from the pandemic as well as improvement from pre-pandemic numbers.
“Visitor spending increased 12 percent over 2019,” said Souleyrette. “Since 2019 was really the last normal year pre-pandemic, we used this to kind of gauge, and pretty much everything was up. So we’re really pleased with these numbers and excited to continue the growth in 2023.”
More information on tourism statistics for 2022 can be found at www.kentuckytourism.com.
