Montana's milestone: 10 million nonresident visitors

Preliminary estimates show that Montana's nonresident visitation reached a milestone in terms of numbers -- 10 million visitors -- in 2005. Nonresident visitors dropped new dollars into the state at a rate of approximately $2 billion per year, contributed over 29,000 jobs, and generated $531 million in income. In the annual tourism outlook survey conducted by the Institute for Tourism & Recreation Research, two questions relating to the outlook seminar theme were asked of Montana tourism business owners. Seventeen percent of Montana's tourism business owners replied to the survey, with nearly all commenting on the first question related to problems in the legal or regulatory environment. In Montana, 64% of tourism business owners are expecting an increase in 2006, and 30% are expecting to remain the same as in 2005.