LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Is Nebraska a new tourism hot spot?
A new report from Visit Nebraska shows a major increase in travel, providing an economic boost.
Last year, out-of-state visitors spent $4.6 billion in Nebraska, an all-time record.
And since 2019, the number of overnight hotel guests has doubled, with 76% of them coming from out of state.
What happened in 2019? Visit Nebraska began a new marketing strategy that included ideas such as finding out what locations it should be promoting and focusing on attracting out of state visitors.
“Truly it’s just because people have been invited to the state in a way they understand, in a way that makes sense,” said John Ricks, executive director of Visit Nebraska, also known as the Nebraska Tourism Commission.
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Ricks says the preconceived notion of Nebraska being a flyover state isn’t true. The commission just had to let people know what the state offers.
After talking with out-of-state visitors, it learned what barriers were keeping people from the Cornhusker State.
“There’s just a simple awareness problem and a familiarity problem,” Ricks said.
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We asked users of the Now Local News App, some who live here and some who don’t, what their favorite spots are in Nebraska.
“I think that going out to western Nebraska is my family’s favorite place to go,” Melanie Dawkins said. “I don’t think enough Nebraskans make it all the way out there, like to the Panhandle.”
Kimberly Grace, who lives out of state, said she likes visiting the Stuhr Museum at Grand Island.
“You can learn about the pioneer days, and they have houses that they put on the land where you can go to visit.”
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Ricks says to keep this growth going, it’s always going to be about getting the word out.
“The more people we make aware, the more people who are discovering that, ‘Hey, whatever I heard in the past isn’t true, and this is actually a cool place.’”
According to Ricks, despite the 2023 numbers just getting released, this year’s numbers are already beating last year’s by over 10%.
Tags: cornhusker state, Grand Island, John Ricks, Nebraska, Nebraska Tourism Commission, now local news app, Panhandle, stuhr museum, Tourism, tourism industry, visit nebraska, Western Nebraska
