Tourism brings up to $80M for Walla Walla County
Tour companies, restaurants thrive with arrival of boutique-winery visitors
Chris Genna
"There has been an explosion of winemaking in the Walla Walla area, and with it, a tremendous jump in tourism and other spinoff businesses.
With 1,200 acres of land in vineyards, Walla Walla historically has been most known for shipping grapes to Woodinville. Or, as Woodinville Chamber of Commerce director Dan Ramirez said, "They grow them, we crush them." Walla Walla growers say there's potential for 8,000 more acres to be planted in vineyards in a few years.
But growing grapes has become only half the story in Walla Walla. "Five years ago, at the turn of the century, we had 22 wineries," said Rebekah Hedahl, marketing director of the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance. Now her group, formed just three years ago, has 64 local winery members and expects to have 72 by the end of this year, Hedahl said.
... Wine tourists come to Walla Walla from Seattle, Portland, Spokane and northern California, the port official said.
"These are folks who aren't shy about spending $50 to $80 for a bottle of wine, aren't shy about having a nice dinner and staying in a nice hotel," Kuntz said.
Tourism Walla Walla County
The article also talks about the renovation of the Marcus Whitman Hotel with the addition of the Conference Center. The Walla Walla area has seen a 15% increase in hotel tax from 2003 to 2004 and 4.23% increase in retail sales tax. The conference center brings in more people to the area filling up the hotels and people spending some money while they are here.
Posted on August 13, 2005 11:08 |
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