TRENTON, N.J. – Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno today attended the New Jersey Conference on Tourism to discuss the New Jersey tourism industry’s diverse attractions for all seasons and the improvements the industry has made over the last year.

New Jersey again set a record in 2016, with the tourism industry accounting for $44.1 billion in economic impact – an increase of more than 2.9 percent over the previous year. This was in part due to an increase in visitation to New Jersey, which increased for the seventh straight year. The number of visitors to New Jersey increased by 3.3 percent last year to 98 million.

“Over the last seven years, as the Lt. Governor and Secretary of State, I've traveled hundreds of thousands of miles across this great state seeing the amazing and diverse attractions we have to offer,” said Lt. Governor Guadagno. “So, it’s no surprise that the travel and tourism industry had another year of increased growth across all seasons.”

In 2016, the tourism industry directly supported more than 321,231 jobs. When factoring in indirect impacts, more than a half million jobs – or nearly one in 10 of all New Jersey jobs – depended on tourism. The New Jersey Division of Travel and Tourism recently released promising numbers from the past year. In 2016, tourism in New Jersey generated $4.9 billion in state and local tax revenues. Without the tourism industry, New Jersey households would each need to pay $1,525 in order to maintain the current level of state and local government services.

To learn more about tourism in New Jersey, visit www.visitnj.org.