Travelers spent more than $41 million in Cape Girardeau County last year.

That's a 15 percent increase over a two-year period.

Travel and tourism contributes heavily to the area's economy.

Traveler spending, which is up from the 1993 total of $36.5 million, has resulted in 819 jobs in the county, with a payroll amounting to $11,430,062.

Mary Miller, director of the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitor's Bureau, is pleased with the increases in the immediate area, throughout Southeast Missouri and the state.

Conventions, bus tours and area attractions all go together to attract visitors to the area. All were up in the city of Cape Girardeau last year.

Convention business is big business in Cape Girardeau. Thousands of visitors come to town every year, ranging from square dancers to postal workers, church groups to Rotarian and Lions Clubs, to more than 5,000 visitors who attend the Midwest Forestry Products Show every two years.

"We had 39 conventions in 1995," said Miller. "That's an increase from 32 in 1994."

More tour buses

More than 70 tour buses made stops in Cape Girardeau last year, up from the 60 of 1994. Another 21 big events brought in thousands of visitors. Boat dockings by the American Queen, Delta Queen and Mississippi Queen riverboats resulted in thousands of visitors to the city.

All of this means a big boost for the city's economy, said Miller. Visitors spend money on hotel rooms and meals, but they also pay for meeting facilities, gifts to take home and merchandise from the city's many retail outlets, including a multitude of antique shops.

Cape Girardeau County is one of a dozen counties included in the state's River Heritage Region. The River Heritage, Kansas City, Pony Express and Ozark Heritage regions grew at a rate greater than the statewide average over the past two years in tourism. The state is divided into 10 regions. Two other regions, Mark Twain and Ozark Mountain, each experienced growth, but less than the state as a whole. Four of the regions had modest declines, of less than 1 percent.

The state of Missouri, which offers more than 700 attractions to travelers, is doing some something right.

Spending by travelers in Missouri topped $10 billion for the first time in 1995.

The latest travel and tourism study, compiled by the Division of Tourism by Certec Inc., a Frankfort, Ky., company which specializes in tourism research, showed that the travel and tourism industry contributed more than $16.5 billion to Missouri's economy in 1995.

Direct spending by travelers accounted for $10.4 billion of the total. That's an increase of two percent after adjusting for inflation, over 1994.

Traveler spending generated more than $3.7 billion in federal, state and local tax revenues in 1995. More than half, $2.1 billion, was federal tax revenue, with $552 million going to county and municipal governments and $1.04 billion in state taxes.

Job and wage impact

Jobs generated by travel/tourism were up 1.4 percent over 1994, at 287,000. The total wage/salary income generated by tourism in 1995 was nearly $4.5 billion, including the multiplier effect.

"The new research highlights tourism's growing importance in Missouri," said Missouri Division of Tourism director Christopher Jennings. "It's important to note that tourism impacts all sectors of our economy."

The increasing popularity of casino riverboats made an important contribution to the overall growth of tourism spending, said James Carr, president of Certec Inc. The Kansas City, Pony Express and St. Louis regions were primary beneficiaries from these attractions.

The study showed that all regions and counties of the state benefited from tourism.

There was considerable variation in tourism growth throughout the state.

The impact of tourism is evident throughout the state. Not only did urban areas receive millions of dollars in tourism spending, but many rural areas with natural attractions and supporting tourism facilities received travel spending.

Missouri offers historic sites, theme parks, music shows, caves, theaters, rafting-canoeing, professional sports and a variety of other facilities. The state also has 381 campgrounds, with a total of 26,450 campsites. Add to this list 84 state parks and state historic sites, and the reasons are evident for tourism increases.

Jobs created by tourism cover a broad range of specialties. In addition to service sector jobs, almost two of every five jobs resulted form tourism spending are in high-wage occupations -- professional, technical, managerial, sales, construction.

Although the service and retail sectors receive most of the dollars generated by traveler spending, one of every dollars ended up creating manufacturing output and jobs.

Second to manufacturing

Tourism is surpassed only by the general category of manufacturing as the largest revenue-producing industry in Missouri. The 287,000 jobs generated by the tourism industry represents 10 percent of all the jobs in the state.

Travel spending creates widespread benefits for Missouri. A national survey by the Travel Industry Association of America says almost three-fourths of U.S. travelers expect to travel for pleasure each year. The travelers, noted the survey, will spend an average of over $1,000 per trip.

Missouri has more than 1,700 accommodation facilities that provide more than 85,000 rooms, with three of the 10 tourism regions -- St. Louis, Ozark Mountains and Kansas City -- accounting for 70 percent of the rooms.

Branson is still a top tourist boom towns in Missouri. Branson, home of a major tourist attraction in Silver Dollar City and more than 30 music theaters with big-name entertainment, attracted more than 4 million visitors last year.

Southeast Missouri totals

In the 13-county Southeast Missouri area -- which includes Cape Girardeau, Perry, and Scott counties -- tourism generated more than $1.4 billion to the economy, with visitors spending more than $215 million, up from the $203 million of 1994.

Following are totals compiled for the 1995 calendar year:

Cape Girardeau County: Travelers spent more than $41.4 million, directly generating 819 jobs with a payroll of $11.4 million.

Bollinger County: $570,253 spent, 12 jobs with a payroll of $164,853.

Butler County: $54.7 million spent, 1,174 jobs with an $16.4 million payroll.

Dunklin County: $1.9 million spent, 40 jobs with a $557,515 payroll.

Madison County: $2.2 million spent, 46 jobs, $642,026 payroll.

Mississippi County: $6 million spent, 121 jobs, $1.7 million payroll.

New Madrid County: $8.7 million spent, 222 jobs, $3.1 million payroll.

Pemiscot County: $8.2 million spent, 212 jobs, $3 million payroll.

Perry County: $4.9 million spent, 97 jobs, $1.4 million payroll.

Scott County: $20.6 million spent, 462 jobs, $6.4 million payroll.

St. Francois: $30 million spent, 600 jobs, 8.4 million payroll.

Ste. Genevieve County: $17.9 million spent, 318 jobs, $4.4 million payroll.

Stoddard County: $6.5 million spent, 162 jobs, $2.3 million payroll.

Southeast Missouri: $215 million spent, generating over $1.6 billion, 4,285 jobs, $60.1 million payroll.

Missouri: $10.4 billion spent, generating more than $16 billion, 287,000 jobs with wages of more than $4.6 billion.