Chelan County To Conduct Tourism Impact Study

Chelan County is allocating money for a Tourism Impact Study.

The County's Board of Commissioners approved the move at their weekly meeting on Monday (Aug. 19).

Commissioner Kevin Overbay says the study will help the County in several ways.

"What we're hoping for is that the study will help us with future planning and development any initiatives that we are wanting to do, and to sustain tourism in Chelan County."

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The study is also expected to assist with the mitigation of negative tourism impacts within the County.

Overbay says the study will focus on a wide variety of items that are pertinent to tourism.

"We'll be looking at socioeconomic impacts and the environmental and cultural impacts of tourism in our region. We're also going to be looking at visitor demographics, travel patterns, length of stays, and how much folks are actually spending while they're here. We also want to analyze and compare downstream economic impacts for various types of overnight accommodations, including short-term rentals, hotels, camping, and even folks who are staying with relatives or friends."

Overbay adds the study will also probe the County's expenses related to search-and-rescue efforts involving tourists, as well as the impacts and expenditures of law enforcement related to tourists and tourism activities.

The County is currently seeing a steady increase in its lodging tax dollars of about 3-4% annually, and Overbay says that's a trend which began during the COVID pandemic.

The Tourism Impact Study will be paid for from the County's lodging tax funds. Overbay says they do not yet know how much the study will cost since the request for bids to conduct it has just been posted with a due date of Sept. 9.