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Economist: Tourism supplies roughly $16M annually and supports about 35% of Newport jobs
Summary
Consultant economist presented preliminary figures showing tourism generates about $16 million in annual revenue and accounts for roughly 35% of local jobs; consultants said the numbers are a work in progress and omitted government/military jobs from tourism totals.
Kevin Heibley, the project economist with Nining Group Partners, told the planning board and council the consultants’ demand-side analysis estimates roughly $16,000,000 in annual revenue tied to summer tourism activity and that about 35% of jobs in Newport are tourism related. "You got about $16,000,000 a year revenue that are associated with the summer in different forms," Heibley said, and later added that "35% of the jobs in Newport are tourism related."
Heibley said the team has broken visitor data into residents, local visitors (within 50 miles) and non-local visitors (50+ miles) and that Discover Newport data shows over half the visitors come from Providence and Bristol counties. He cautioned that some employer categories—most notably military and other government jobs—were not included in the tourism percentages the team presented and that supply-side figures (hotels, short-term rentals, moorings and ferry capacity) remain a work in progress.
Council members pressed for historical context on the traffic and for a clearer breakdown of which revenue sources were included in the $16 million estimate; Heibley and the consultants said they will refine and document their methods in subsequent drafts and follow-up materials.
