September 7, 2022 (Carrollton, Ga.) – Visitors to Carroll County generated $150.1 million in direct, domestic traveler expenditures in 2021, an increase of just more than 22 percent over 2020, the Carrollton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau announced today.
According to an annual study commissioned by the Georgia Department of Economic Development, visitors to Carroll County and its cities were also responsible for $10.9 million in state and local tax revenues in 2021. Each household in the county would need to be taxed an additional $258 per year to replace taxes generated by tourism activity. The tourism industry supported more than 1512 jobs and created almost $34 million in payroll in the county in 2021.
“These numbers for 2021 show that tourism here continues to strongly rebound,” said Jonathan Dorsey, the visitors bureau’s director. “Tourism spending locally has grown year to year for more than a decade except in 2020 and even then, our county’s revenues were only down by about 11 percent while the state average was down more than 30 percent.”
Dorsey credited the county’s success attracting visitors to the cooperative efforts of city and county governments, local tourism bureaus, attractions, lodging, parks and recreation departments, food service, schools, the Chamber of Commerce and others.
“Countless individuals here work hard every day to offer world-class hospitality to visitors from all over Georgia, from out-of-state and internationally,” he said.
According to the report, visitors to the county spent the most on food service, followed in order by local and air transportation, lodging, retail and recreation.
