Last year was a record year for tourism in Palm Beach County, according to numbers tabulated by the county’s official tourism marketing agency.
On Wednesday, “Discover The Palm Beaches” released data that showed 6.9 million visitors came to the county from January 2015 to December 2015. This figure was a 10 percent increase from 2014.
"This makes five years in a row of record-breaking tourism," said Jorge Pesquera, president and CEO for DTPB.
Direct visitor spending decreased slightly from $4.84 billion to $4.83 billion, but room nights sold increased from 4.19 million to 4.3 million.
“The increased visitation is wonderful news for the community,” Pesquera said. “For every 100 visitors, one new job is created. Since The Palm Beaches had 600,000 more visitors in 2015, that means 6,000 new jobs are created in Palm Beach County.”
Tourism is among Palm Beach County's major industries, generating an annual economic impact of $7.3 billion for the local economy and supports more than 63,000 jobs.
