In the summer of 2020, the tourism industry took a giant blow because of the coronavirus pandemic, and the resulting travel restrictions and some businesses having limited capacity.
Four years later, as many families, residents and visitors are planning what to do with their time off, businesses in key tourism areas hiring workers are back to pre-2020 job numbers or close to it.
tourism generated $23.7 billion in total economic impact in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available from the state Department of tourism. That total topped the previous record of $22.2 billion set in 2019.
Employment took a little longer to recover, but in April the hospitality and leisure sector employed roughly 282,000 workers statewide, the highest it has been in that month since 2019, according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In March, roughly 285,800 people worked in hospitality and leisure, matching March 2019.
In the greater Milwaukee area, employment in…
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