During the months from spring to fall (a.k.a. The *real* best time of the year), the streets downtown are more crowded, parking is scarce + Main Street is crawling with cars. Most of us, especially those working in the service industry, consider these nine months as “tourist season”. Since today is #NationalTourismDay, we thought we would take a look at how tourism affects our local economy.

The population of Greenville (city) is right at 65,245 and while that is considered small in comparison to Charlotte + large compared to rural areas nearby, it’s well known that Greenville comes in at no. 1 when it comes to out-of-towners checking out our city (and mountains).

Now before you complain about how the tourists need to go home, there are two sides to every story. Like, a ton of $$ coming into our local economy from tourists.

Tourism by the numbers

Average number of sunny days each year: 220

Number of hotel rooms downtown: 1,000+

Number of hotel rooms in Greenville County: 9,000+

Number of yearly Greenville events: 300+ event days

Local hospitality tax: 2%

Money generated from visitors (direct spending): $1.14 billion (yes, BILLION.)

State + local tax money generated from visitors: $67.7 million (Tourism annually decreases Greenville households’ tax burden by $826.00 in local and state taxes.)

Where do all those tourism tax dollars go? To fund facilities, new parks and recreation amenities, museums and attractions + festivals and events.

How do we benefit from all the tourists? Visitor spending benefits Greenville County residents with $254 million in wages and salaries.

*Thanks for VisitGreenvilleSC for all the stats.