Feb. 28, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Caryn Gresham
304-558-2288, ext. 347
cgresham@callwva.com

WVU study tracks tourism contributions to state's economy

Download a copy of the study (316k Adobe PDF file)

CHARLESTON -- West Virginia's tourism industry has steadily grown in sales and employment for more than 20 years, according to a study released today by the West Virginia Division of Tourism, the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the West Virginia University Bureau of Business and Economic Research.

The study is the first to focus on the industry's growth in terms of state gross product and employment as tracked by the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) and North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS), which are nationally recognized methods for classifying growth in all industry sectors.

"This study certainly reminds us that tourism is growing and plays an important role in our state's economy," Gov. Joe Manchin III said. "It's vital that we recognize contributions from many business sectors and tourism's overall contribution to our state's image and the value of hospitality for visitors and potential business partners are key to our economic future."

"This type of research is important to the state tourism agency and hundreds of West Virginia's tourism businesses that will use it to track employment impact and the industry's growth in the state," said Betty Carver, state tourism commissioner. "This is a long-awaited study because it allows us to track the industry's overall growth and, at the same time, compare it other major industries."

Using the SIC method for 1980 through 1997 and the NAICS method from 1998 through 2002, data shows that components of the travel and tourism industry increased throughout the study years.

From 1980 to 1997, SIC shows that while the state's overall gross state product increased at an average annual rate of 4.5 percent per year, hotels and lodging grew at 5 percent and amusement and recreational services at 4 percent per year.

The SIC program and its newer model NAICS are definitive industry classification systems developed by the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis in the U.S. Department of Commerce, said Dr. Tom Witt, director of WVU's economic research bureau. The study also uses information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau, he said.

"The study is important because it will help the tourism industry demonstrate that it holds an important place in the present and future economic development of the state," Witt said. "While studies on economic impact and visitor profiles are invaluable to the industry because they focus on consumer preferences and provide insight that helps with marketing and product development, it is equally as important to look at studies that offer a quantitative view of the industry's growth in the state."

Witt and his associate Mark Fletcher conducted the study.

# # #