Economic Impact Report
2021 Economic Impact Report
To quantify the economic significance of the tourism sector in Iowa, the Iowa Tourism Office has contracted with Tourism Economics to prepare a comprehensive model detailing the far reaching impacts arising from visitor spending. The results of this study show the scope of the travel sector in terms of direct visitor spending, as well as the total economic impacts, jobs, and fiscal (tax) impacts in the broader economy.
In 2021, visitors spent over $6.1 billion across the Iowa economy. This direct visitor spending impact generated a total economic impact of $9.4 billion in Iowa, sustained nearly 65,000 jobs and generated $1.0 billion in state and local tax revenues in 2021.
Additional Data Resources
- Iowa Hotel/Motel Tax Distributions by City (data available through Q2 of 2022)
- Iowa Retail Sales Tax Data by 12 Business Groups by County (data available through Q4 of 2021)
- Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) (search by county name)
- Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Quarterly Census of Employment & Wages (search by county, MSA or geographic area for Leisure and Hospitality category)
- Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) Outdoor Recreation Data: Iowa Data | All Data
- Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) GDP by State
2020 Tourism Economic Impact Report
In 2020, visitor spending was significantly impacted by the pandemic. Travel leaned towards auto trips and the widespread decline of business travel made leisure travel of paramount importance to the tourism industry.