Kentucky officials say the state’s tourism industry had a strong performance in 2015.
State Tourism, Arts and Heritage Secretary Don Parkinson said Wednesday the tourism sector had a $13.7 billion economic impact last year, up 5 percent from the prior year.
He says the industry supported more than 186,000 jobs, including 6,200 created in 2015.
Parkinson says Kentucky tourism generated more than $1.43 billion in taxes, with $184.9 million going directly to local communities. He says those are the state’s strongest overall numbers in the past 10 years.
The Kentucky Department of Travel and Tourism says it’s planning a marketing and programming effort aimed at reaching new audiences. It says it plans to build on the six pillars of Kentucky tourism — horses, bourbon, music, arts, outdoors and culinary.