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The weather and gas prices have made a less-than-fortunate impact on tourism in Wisconsin and the Upper Mississippi River region, although the area is still attracting more people than a decade ago.

Overall, tourism in La Crosse County took a 1-percent dip in 2007 over 2006 but was up 59 percent over the last 10 years and up 63 percent since 1994.

Wisconsin, like others in the Midwest, have seen a similar trend. Part of the reason for the recent decrease is that flooding has kept people from coming into the region and gas prices have kept people from travelling very far out of the region, according to Onalaska Tourism and Commerce Director Jean Lunde.

“They are staying more in their local regions (within four to five hours),” Lunde said. “That’s also where we attract (people from) Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Rochester. And we do get people from Michigan and Iowa — not as much as an influx but (it’s) starting to pick up. That might be due to the state department of tourism advertising a little bit more.”

According to the “2007 Economic Impact of Expenditures by Travelers in Wisconsin” report issued by the Wisconsin Department of Tourism in June, tourists spent $211 million in 2007 compared to $213 million in 2006 in La Crosse County. According to the report, La Crosse County ranked 15th in the state for tourism dollars in 2007.

Statewide expenditures in 2007 were $12.78 billion, down less than 1 percent from $12.83 billion in 2006, but they were up 88 percent in the last 10 years and up 122 percent since 1994.

Across Wisconsin, 302,231 total jobs were related to tourism, generating $7.1 billion in wages, salaries and proprietary income. This is an almost 8-percent drop from 2006 when 327,759 jobs were related to tourism.

Tourism generated $1.42 billion in state revenues, a 4-percent decline from 2006 and $638 million in local revenues, a 9-percent increase.

Hotels, motels, resorts and bed and breakfasts in Wisconsin benefited the most from visitors, scooping up almost $7 billion, or 53 percent of lodging, while 5 percent of lodging revenue came from campers and 5 percent from cabins, cottages or condominiums. Thirty percent of visitors stayed with family and friends and 7 percent just spent the day.

Lunde said room occupancy increased almost 9 percent at Onalaska establishments in 2007.

“We’ve also had a lot of new businesses open up within community and region,” Lunde said.

Thirty percent of expenditures were spent on shopping, 27 percent on food, 22 percent on recreation, 13 percent on lodging and 8 percent on transportation.

The summer months of June through August were the most popular, as usual, with 38 percent of traveler expenditures during that time. Expenditures during the fall months of September through November were 24 percent of annual expenditures, expenditures during the Spring months of March through May were at 21 percent and winter months of December through February accounted for 17 percent of the total.