Tourism's Economic Benefit
Click here to see the tourism advocacy videos produced by the Indiana Tourism Association.
Fast Facts
- 1 in 23 Indiana workers has a job because of Tourism.
- Indiana visitors generate enough state and local taxes to pay for 28,530 public school teachers.
- The Indiana tourism industry directly supported 152,600 jobs in 2018, an increase of 2% compared to 2017.
- Each Indiana visitor spent an average of $163 locally on transportation, hotel, food and beverage, shopping and entertainment.
- Tourism-initiated state & local taxes increased 3.9% vs. 2017.
- If visitors stopped coming to Indiana, each of its 2.5 million households would have to pay an additional $566 in state & local taxes in order to maintain current levels of tax receipts.
- Indiana was able to retain about 71ยข of every $1 spent by visitors.
2019 Economic Impact of Tourism in Indiana

Indiana destinations welcomed a record 81 million visitors (A 1.3% increase over the previous year.)

Indiana hosted 457,000 trips from international visitors. 31.6 million of the total visitors stayed overnight leading to a 3% increase in Innkeepers tax collection.

Visitors spent a record $13.2 billion in Indiana, up 4.2% over previous year. $3.7 billion in food & drink, $2.9 billion in shopping, $2.3 billion in entertainment and recreation, $2.1 billion in lodging, $2.1 billion in transportation, < $1 billion in other areas

Tourism is responsible for 5% OF ALL INDIANA JOBS.

71¢ of every $1 spent by visitors stays in Indiana. This contributes $9.3 billion to Indiana’s Gross State Product.

Tourism saves Hoosiers money by saving an average of $566 in state and local taxes per household