The room tax received from the city of Shawano and six other municipalities in Shawano County surpassed the $200,000 mark in 2023 and shows a marked increase from the year before.
Shawano Country Tourism, part of the Shawano Country Chamber of Commerce, received $214,208.82 from the city, the villages of Pulaski and Cecil, and the towns of Belle Plaine, Washington, Wescott and Wittenberg. The additional $16,940.42 is a 7.6% increase.
Along with its visitor’s guide and sales of brand items, the money from the room tax helps the chamber to market the area throughout the state and nation. Direct visitor spending that could be attributed to advertising and promotional efforts went up 1.3% from $75.5 million in 2022 to $76.5 million last year.
Visitors to the county generated $7 million in state and local taxes last year, which was an increase of 3.1% from the $6.7 million that came in for 2022.
“According to the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, 2023 was another record-breaking year at $114 million for Shawano County,” said Michelle Eron, tourism manager, as she presented the room tax information July 10 to the Shawano Common Council. “Shawano Country Tourism is the official destination marketing organization that promotes this area as a recreational destination to increase travel with overnight stays and expenditures to both Shawano and Menominee counties.”
The $114 million does not include all the information on tribal tourism, as that information is private. It does, however, include $24.6 million in total labor income that supported almost 800 full- and part-time jobs, a 2.2% jump from the previous year.
“Lodging, including short-term rentals and second homes, account for the largest visitor spending in Wisconsin,” Eron said. “The second was spent on food and beverages followed by transportation and recreation and entertainment.”
The increase in the room tax and other tourism benchmarks show that there is growing interest in the Shawano area, according to Eron. She attributes some of the interest coming from the distribution of the chamber’s visitor guide in 2023, with 50,000 copies getting to visitors through local businesses and events.
“Advertising space was purchased in various publications to expand our readership and interest in the area,” Eron said. “We acquired numerous publicity opportunities in regard to media coverage, from the TV crews coming to watch the sturgeon from Fox 11 to my live interviews with WFRV-TV about the barn quilts or Spectrum News to find out why recreation is so important to this area. It was a very busy year, and we want to continue to grow tourism for the Shawano Country area in 2024.”
In October 2023, the chamber put up a new billboard on state Highway 29, which receives 37,343 weekly impressions, according to Eron. The billboard helps point to the visitor center at the southwest corner of Shawano, which she described as the “front door” for the area.
“We provide resources for travelers and our local community in our 24-hour vestibule and our reception area,” Eron said. “As you can see by this report, Shawano Country continues to grow and prosper, and we plan to continue this trend to build an awareness that we have interest that tourists want to plan, to vacation at and to enjoy.”
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
Shawano County room tax increases 7.6% in 2023
