Sawyer County records fourth straight tourism high as regional study flags need for destination management

Sawyer County reported a fourth consecutive record year for tourism in 2024, producing $151 million in total economic impact locally and supporting about 960 jobs, county tourism officials told the Sawyer County Board of Supervisors.

County tourism matters locally because rising visitor numbers strain roads, parking, cell and emergency services and present planning and housing challenges that affect residents, businesses and public safety.

Mindy Simons of the Hayward Lakes Visitor and Convention Bureau told supervisors the state’s 2024 tourism economic-impact report, released June 10, showed Sawyer County’s record $151,000,000 figure, up from about $150,000,000 the prior year. She said tourism in Wisconsin as a whole generated roughly $25.8 billion in economic impact in 2024 and that tourism produced about $10.5 million in state and local tax revenue for Sawyer County. Simons also reported strong digital engagement for the bureau: Google pay-per-click campaigns drove interest in fishing and camping, Facebook interactions rose roughly 30% month-over-month, and Instagram views jumped about 59%.

A separate, federally funded regional tourism and outdoor-recreation study presented to the board reinforced those metrics and recommended a more coordinated approach to managing visitors. Jim Miller, who presented the Northwest Regional Planning Commission summary, said the study — funded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration — used aggregated cell-device movement data and event tracking to identify feeder markets and travel patterns. Miller said the study shows large visitor contingents from the Twin Cities and Chicago areas, and notable day-trip traffic from Eau Claire, Duluth and other secondary markets.

"We can see where people originate and where they go during the day," Miller said, describing the anonymized device-movement analysis the study used. He urged local governments to plan for growth in traffic, parking, sanitation and public-safety demands and to consider infrastructure changes such as roundabouts and improved wayfinding to ease summer congestion.

Jason, the study’s author who joined the meeting remotely, urged a destination-management approach to reduce fragmentation among chambers, municipalities and private partners. "Tourism management in the region is very disconnected," he said. "A more holistic approach can help communities adapt to emerging issues and better coordinate marketing and services."

Board members and presenters flagged several specific local concerns that the study highlights: peak-weekend vehicle congestion on Highway 63 through Hayward, limited downtown parking, intermittent cell coverage that hampers visitor communications and first-responder coordination, strains on emergency medical services and sanitation systems, and housing shortages aggravated by a rise in short-term rentals. Miller and others said microtargeted marketing to secondary feeder markets such as Eau Claire and Duluth could be more cost-effective than broad campaigns in Chicago or Minneapolis.

Jason offered to produce a concise, county-level one-page summary of study metrics for Sawyer County; the commission asked him to provide that local file for practical planning use.

The presentations did not propose county policy changes; they were informational and recommended further local discussion and partnerships with state and federal agencies to address infrastructure, housing and destination-management needs.