Why Travel Matters in Marietta

Why Travel Matters in Marietta

We pass popular tourist sites like Six Flags White Water every day; we may not even think of how it supports our community. But Six Flags White Water and others like Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield and Park, the Marietta Square Market and the Marietta Gone with the Wind Museum are the backbone of Marietta. These places define our community, provide our families with jobs and have given us and annual visitors a lifetime of memories.

Travel matters, and it improves Marietta in ways that have a wide-reaching impact on local residents. Travel supports many jobs in the area and it also has an impact on ways that we do not always see: travel can strengthen families, foster hometown pride, and build bridges that connect us with one another.

Travel Matters to America

At the national level, travel is critical to the U.S. economy and American jobs. As a leader in workforce development and career advancement – travel creates and supports 15.7 million jobs across the U.S. – making it the seventh-largest private sector employer. In 2018, traveler spending generated $171 billion in total tax revenue including $78.6 billion in state and local revenue. That $78.6 billion can pay for a host of critical resources: it’s more than enough to pay all state and local police and firefighters, or the more than one million public high school teachers.

Think back to your first job. Maybe you worked on the Marietta Square or maybe your kids work there now. For many – one third of Americans to be exact – travel is the front door to a promising career. Americans whose first job in travel have an average career salary of $81,900, and two in 5 of those whose first job was in travel are now earning more than $100,000.

Those are only a few reasons why it’s so important to keep welcoming visitors to Marietta – and why our industry is elevating the message of “Travel Matters” during National Travel and Tourism Week (NTTW) May 5-11. We encourage you to join us in observing NTTW this year, and celebrate all that travel does for Marietta, and for our country.

Get social and engage with #nttw19 hashtag on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Share how travel matters in your community.

This year’s NTTW is more than just another campaign. It’s a movement that positions the travel industry as a primary driver in the U.S. economy, and as an important part of our daily lives in Marietta, Georgia.

Tags: