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Visitor study: Walton County 2023 visitors generated nearly $5 billion in direct spending, report shows
Summary
St. Germain Research presented the 2023 visitor tracking study showing nearly $5 billion in direct accommodation, dining and retail spending, 3.7 million paid room nights and support for about 41,600 jobs in Walton County.
Erin Dinkle of St. Germain Research presented the 2023 annual visitor tracking study to the Walton County Tourist Development Council, summarizing spending, visitation and market sources.
Dinkle said visitor direct spending on accommodations, dining and local retail in 2023 totaled nearly $5,000,000,000 and generated approximately $7,000,000,000 in economic impact countywide. Overnight visitors in paid accommodations produced more than 3,700,000 room nights in 2023; total visitation for the year was about 5,000,000 visitors. The research estimated the visitor-driven activity supported nearly 41,600 local jobs and about $1,200,000,000 in wages and salaries.
The study found that 13% of visitors in 2023 were first-time visitors and 35% had visited more than 10 times. Most visitors drove to the county; three-quarters arrived by car and the largest origin market was the Southeast U.S. with seven core states cited: Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi. Atlanta remained a top single-market feeder.
Dinkle also reported a net tax benefit estimate of more than $65,000,000 when visitor tax contributions were compared to county service costs; spread across roughly 31,000 households, that translated in the study’s calculation to a per-household tax savings of about $2,000. She said staff can provide the county-level breakdown of how service uses and costs were allocated between residents and visitors on request.
Council members asked follow-up questions about the timing of the 2024 study, which Dinkle said would be finalized after updated November TDT figures were posted, and about whether the survey requests lifetime or intra-year repeat-visit metrics (Dinkle said the study captured lifetime repeat visitation, not multiple visits within a calendar year).
Ending: Dinkle said full report materials and the underlying datasets are available on request and offered to provide additional detail to council members after the meeting.
