Tourism in northern Wisconsin for 2019 was the best year on record, but 2020 is “blowing it out of the water.”
Vilas County saw an uptick in sales tax for March and April, but it was late May when the county fielded more requests for information as people made the trek to St. Germain, according to St. Germain Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Penny Strom in a Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce webinar.
“If you’re going to social distance, this is the best place,” she said (pictured above). “People are looking to get out of the cities, to get out where there are a lot of cases.”
Strom noted Vilas and Oneida counties’ low COVID-19 case counts, at 11 and 17 confirmed cases respectively.
Memorial Day was “extremely busy” for St. Germain. While normally the influx of people is on Friday afternoon of the holiday weekend, Strom said crowds came in as early as Tuesday leaving hotels and lodging without vacancy.
“And they are plum full until the end of August,” she said. “Many of them have said that 2019 was the best year ever on record; 2020 is blowing it out of the water right now.”
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