If you noticed an uptick in out-of-town license plates puttering through Cadiz and the lakes area in 2021, you weren’t alone.
According to the state’s annual comprehensive update of economic travel impact dollars, more than $21.5 million in direct visitor monies were spent in Trigg County in that time. And that’s a 23.4% increase from 2020, in which visitors spent $17.5 million.
Rebounding travel following the bloom of COVID-19 is but one predicate of this tourism boom.
Cadiz & Trigg Tourist Commission Executive Director Bill Stevens noted that following the pandemic, his office made a diligent effort to do promotions and advertising to people that were 3-to-4 hours away from here — as opposed to targeted ads 5-to-8 hours away from west Kentucky.
Stevens credited a wide range of opportunities in Trigg County as reasons for this bounceback, as Prizer Point, Moon River, Fish Island, Lake Barkley State Resort Park, hotel/motel business near I-24, downtown shopping all the way to FNB Bank and more all saw reported improvements from 2020.
Rental boats. Fishing gear. Gasoline. Food. Vacation property. Camping. Hiking. Stevens said visitors were especially looking for privacy in and near rural waterways, and not interested in big crowds.
His office knew this past year was going to be an improvement from 2020 for some obvious reasons, but he admittedly was surprised to see a 23% increase in visitor spending.
There are, however, some considerations.
For comparison, Trigg County experienced $18.23 million in direct tourism spending in 2017 — and that’s a year in which a once-in-a-lifetime solar eclipse brought people from all around the world to quiet west Kentucky.
In 2018, that spending mercurially increased to $18.97 million.
Even now, as west Kentucky gets ready to embrace Labor Day festivities, and Trigg County prepares for its annual Country Ham Festival, Stevens said this area just seems to imprint on visitors — who often come here to relax and recharge, before returning to the real world.
This visitor spending generated more than $1.8 million in state and local taxes for Trigg County.
Fittingly, Trigg County also saw an increase in its tourism labor force representation — up from 4.1% of all employees in 2020, to 4.4% in 2021.
