The Republican chair of the senate agriculture and tourism committee is praising the state Department of Tourism’s efforts for helping the state’s tourism and travel industry begin to rebound. Tourism is Wisconsin’s third largest industry and one of the first hit hard by the pandemic. But the U.S. Travel Association recently announced that Wisconsin was the first state in the Midwest and one of only 13 in the nation to exceed travel spending in September, compared to September 2019. Republican state senator Joan Ballweg of Markesan says the a one percent spending increase couldn’t have been accomplished without Wisconsin residents exploring their own state.
