Tourism Impact

Travel Spending in Abilene MSA Data from Office of the Governor, Economic Development Travel & Tourism

Abilene guests in 2019:

4.16 million visitors 7.35 million visitor days 75.6 travel to Abilene for leisure 89% Texans 50.3% day visits 95.5% travel by auto 47.9 average age 1.84 average party size 2.4 average overnight stay $97.80 daily average visitor spending

Traveling from:

Dallas/Fort Worth: 27% Abilene Area: 18.8% San Angelo: 14.9% Austin: 5% Midland/Odessa: 5.1% Houston: 5% Austin: 5% Houston: 5% El Paso: 4.9% San Antonio: 3.2%

Impact on Local Economy in 2019:

Travelers spent $505.9 million. Travel spending generated $14.5 million in local taxes. Travel brought $30.6 million in state tax receipts. Travel employs 4,131 people in Abilene. Without visitor spending, each household in Taylor County would need to pay an additional $690 in taxes to maintain existing services.

Spending by commodity:

Ground transportation and fuel: $149.1 million Dining and drinks: $94.5 million Retail: $84 million Accommodations: $69.1 million Entertainment/recreation/arts: $55.9 million Food stores: $20 million Air travel: $11.7 million

2019 Attraction Attendance

NCCIL............................................21,036 Abilene Zoo............. ..............................207,344 Abilene Convention Center........................ 235,760 Taylor County Expo Center.......................*249,045 Frontier Texas!........................................ 33,200

*2018 attendance The Grace Museum............................................64,754 Taylor County History Center...................................3,301 Center for Contemporary Arts.................................30,000 Historic Paramount Theatre...................................58,000 12th Armored Memorial Museum............................5,764