(The Center Square) – Tourism brings in $5 billion annually in state and local tax revenues to Georgia, a committee studying the industry's impact was told Thursday.
The industry has a $79.7 billion impact and supports more than 463,000 jobs, said Jay Markwalter, statewide tourism director for the Georgia Department of Economic Development. He appeared before the Senate Study Committee on Making Georgia the Number One State for Tourism at The Boathouse on Lake Lanier in Gainesville, Ga.
"The economic importance of tourism being, absolutely, we are importing temporary taxpayers," Markwalter said.
Investing in tourism provides tax relief for local residents and is worth the investment, according to Tyler Reinagel, director of policy and research for the Council of State Governments Southern Region told the committee.
Money spent on dining, entertainment and shopping brings in local sales tax revenues, he said. Georgia also has a $5 hotel/motel fee per room/per night. But the actual tourism funding comes from a local hotel/motel excise tax that can be from 2% to 8%.
"Most communities have gone to the 8% which is the highest allowed under state law, but we do have a number of communities still at those lower rates," Reinagel said.
The first 3 cents of the excise tax can be used for any legal purpose by cities and counties. Anything over the 3 cents must be used for tourism, according to Reinagel.
Georgia has attracted some high-profile events in recent years. The 2025 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held at Truist Park in Smyrna in July. Atlanta is hosting eight FIFA World Cup games in 2026. The event is predicted to bring 520,000 spectators and have an economic impact of $500 million, Markwalter said.
But the Legislature has not talked about tourism in years, said Sen. Drew Echols, R-Gainesville, who is chairing the committee.
"While we've been in a great spot, the number one place to do business, but that doesn't mean we don't need to keep working, keep pushing forward, get out of the box in out thinking about how we fund projects, how we market tourism and things like that," Echols said.
Regional competition is one of the challenges, Reinagel said.
"We're always going to be working to get folks into Georgia, making the decision to come to Tybee Island instead of the beaches in Florida, making the decision to come to Blue Ridge instead of Asheville," he said. "We want to get them in Georgia. We want to get them spending money in Georgia but we need to be cognizant of our neighbors and what they're doing to get those visitor dollars as well."
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