Staff writers 2:08 PM Monday, August 1, 2011
One of the few bright spots in Ohio?s anemic jobs recovery has been employment in the state?s leisure and hospitality sector, which added 10,600 new jobs last month ? more than any other category.
Southwest Ohio is one of the brightest regions in the state for tourism.
State and local officials say much of the new hiring in the leisure and hospitality sector is the result of a steady rebound in tourism, which generated $38 billion in sales last year ? up 7 percent from 2009, the Ohio Department of Development?s Division of Tourism recently reported.
Over the past 12 months, the state?s rebounding tourism industry has helped create more than 25,000 leisure and hospitality jobs, or more than a third of 72,400 total private sector jobs added in the past year.
That was second only to educational and health services, which added more than 33,000 jobs over the past 12 months, according to the most recent figures from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
The greater Cincinnati region has benefited from a combination of factors that have kept Ohio travelers closer to home and attracted visitors from nearby states who might otherwise have traveled to more far away destinations, said Phil Smith, director of the Warren County Convention and Visitor?s Bureau.
Tourism provides 10,500 jobs in Warren County ? its number one employer ? every year and is close to a billion dollar industry, Smith said.
The Butler County Convention and Visitor?s Bureau does not track the number of jobs created by tourism, but statistics show that one out of 13 jobs is supported by the tourism industry, said director Mark Hecquet.
In neighboring Hamilton County, tourism accounts for 40,908 jobs as of 2009, the most recent figures available from the industry, according to Linda Antus, president of the Cincinnati USA Regional Tourism Network. That means tourism supports 1 in every 10 private sector jobs in the county.
?I don?t think you can argue, we offer a wonderful mix of attractions,? Smith said, citing Kings Island, three water parks, its historic towns, plentiful antiquing areas and the outlet mall as just a few of the county?s highlights. The area also benefits from being easily accessible and located near several major cities.
That means a steady flow of business for Kings Island, which employs 130 staffers on a year-round basis but 4,028 this year during its operating season, according to Don Helbig, the park?s spokesman.
Of those workers, 35 percent are from Hamilton County, 26 percent from Warren County, 18 percent from Butler County and 8 percent from Clermont County, Helbig said.
Located next door to Kings Island, Great Wolf Lodge employs 537 people from various communities, a trend that is consistent with previous years since the entertainment and hospitality destination opened in 2006, said Steve Shattuck, a spokesman for Great Wolf Resorts.
In 2009, tourism generated $3.8 billion in total economic impact to Hamilton County and generated $521 million in taxes, Antus said.
?People have been trying to cut staff and sizes and asking folks to do more with less, of course,? said Ed McMasters, spokesman for the Cincinnati USA Regional Tourism Network. ?But travel and tourism itself to the region itself has increased, so that has been as a result increasing the amount of folks that are involved in the industry.?
It is likely that economic impact information scheduled for release next spring will show an increase in those tourism jobs, Antus said.
?As we look at the state of the industry this year through June, we?re seeing a significant increase in our hospitality business over the prior year,? she said. ?That?s a direct result of the powerful tourism product, as well as the visitor and the business traveler?s desire to come to an accessible, value priced and very convenient location such as the Greater Cincinnati and northern Kentucky region.?
When it comes to the hospitality part of the tourism equation, year to date figures from Smith Travel Research show the industry recovering ?a bit more robustly? than the national hospitality rate, Antus said.
Travel to and within the state grew by about 4 percent from 2009 to about 179 million visitors last year. More than 80 percent of the trips were day trips, according to the tourism division, while the remainder were visitors who stayed overnight.
?High gas prices and the overall state of the economy have people reconsidering longer trips down to Florida or Myrtle Beach and looking at what?s in their own back yard,?? said Amir Eylon, the state?s director of tourism. ?Ohio has been well-positioned to take advantage of those market forces and now, I think, we?re poised to continue to build on that growth.??
?A vacation for Americans is almost a birthright they just won?t give up,? Smith said. ?People work way too hard to not decompress and take time for themselves once a year.?
Tourism?s reach extends far beyond seasonal ticket-takers and ride runners, Smith noted. ?A tourism job filters down just like any other job,? Smith said. ?We?ve heard lots of anecdotal evidence of visitors who came to Kings Island and shopped at Kroger?s or dined at a restaurant, then found the outlet mall and spent money there. It has a huge impact not just in tickets sold to the Beach Waterpark.?
So far, however, solid employment gains in leisure and hospitality haven?t offset continued job losses in other areas.
For the second month in a row, unemployment was up in Ohio. The unemployment rate rose from 8.5 percent in May to 9. 5 percent in June for Butler County; from 7.6 percent to 8.1 percent in Warren County; and from 8 percent to 9.1 percent in Hamilton County. The state figure rose from 8.6 percent to 8.8 percent during the same period.
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