People move to a certain city / village for various reasons. Community festivals and big events brought to the city are a boom to the area and helps improve the quality of life. It bothers me when someone says there is nothing to do in this city, or all this traffic can leave my sleepy town now, or that new PGA golf course doesn’t benefit me. I hear things like that all the time and being a Destination (Tourism) Marketer, it is disheartening.
The PGA Championship was in my hometown area of Sheboygan County, at Whistling Straits in Kohler, WI. An event like this is huge for any area, as it brought in over 200,000 people to the area and generated over $100 million in local economic impact. Yet, the naysayers still complained about all of the traffic, doesn’t benefit them, and another other excuse as to why this was not a good thing. Well guess what, tourism does benefit them (you and I), as it saves each family over $1,000 a year in taxes. Yes, over $1,000 dollars a year in taxes! I don’t know about you, but I don’t like paying taxes, so to have people visiting my area, spending money and generating tax revenue is great!