Return on investment: Indiana tourism is a $6.7 billion business.

• Author: Vaughan, Amy
• Position: VIEWPOINT

INDIANA IS NOT ONLY A great place to live; it's also a great place to visit. Visitors spend $6.7 billion while visiting Indiana. They eat in our restaurants; they sleep in our hotels; they shop in our stores and they pump gas at our stations. Visitor spending adds to our quality of life.

On May 23, the Indiana Office of Tourism Development joined Gov Daniels and Lt. Gov. Skillman--as well as tourism and hospitality professionals from across the state--for the signing of Senate Bill 335 into law, creating the Office of Tourism Development as a stand-alone agency.

Tourism in Indiana is big business. We not only receive $6.7 billion in visitor expenditures, we welcome 58 million visitors annually and we provide more than 94,000 full-time jobs. In many Indiana counties, tourism is a vital piece of the local economy. The creation of the new Office of Tourism Development will help to raise awareness of just how important tourism is to Indiana's economy.

Having a stand-alone agency will elevate the profile of tourism. Currently, Indiana is 37th in the nation for state spending on tourism. Our budget of $4.4 million puts us well behind Kentucky ($6.8 million), Wisconsin ($14.7 million), Michigan ($14.7 million) and Illinois ($49 million). In an effort to level the playing field with surrounding states, we hope to grow our budget over time.

Tourism generates a great return on invested state dollars. For every dollar spent on tourism marketing by the state and its partners, travelers spend $618 in Indiana. In addition, the state gets $37 in sales tax revenue for every dollar invested in destination advertising. Nationally, tourism is a...