Boone County tourism increases in 2016; Mizzou a big factor

Statewide, Missouri saw an increase in tourism in 2016 compared to 2015, Boone County included.

More than a 3 percent increase in tourists visited Missouri in 2016 compared to 2015.

According to the Missouri Division of Tourism, the University of Missouri had a big reason in why Boone County saw an increase.

Dan Lennon with the division told ABC 17 News that ever since Mizzou joined the SEC it put Columbia on the map for a lot of tourists.

“I think joining the SEC has really increased our visitation,” he said, “That part of the country (Southeast) didn’t know about us and now we are a really attractive place to visit.”

Despite game attendance being low, Lennon said the amount of advertisements visitors were exposed to allowed people to want to return to Columbia, Missouri, and Boone County.

Another reason for a increase in tourism statewide and locally has to deal with airport access.

Although the Columbia Regional Airport is undergoing changes, the convenience for some travelers was noted.

“Airports become more important,” he said, “Anytime you can make it easy for someone you start to bring more people in for maybe a nice weekend.”

Forty-five percent of visitors in Missouri were from the state. Lennon told ABC 17 News that- that is possible because they consider anyone traveling more than 50 miles, spending the night at a hotel, as a visitor.

Along with tourism numbers increasing, the number of tourism related employment in our state increased by an additional 10,000 jobs.