Tourists accounted for $615 million last year in Kent, Des Moines, SeaTac and Tukwila alone, according to an article in the Puget Sound Business Journal.
According to the Puget Sound Business Journal:
"There were 5,350 tourism-related jobs that generated $181 million in wages last year in the four cities, according to a report prepared by Dean Runyan Associates for the Seattle Southside organization. There were 2.2 million visitors to the four cities last year that accounted for $51.6 million in tax revenues for the state, the report indicated."
"For every South King County household, tourism provides $400 in taxes that residents don't have to pay, and over 5,000 jobs that wouldn't otherwise exist," said Katherine Kertzman, program director for Seattle Southside, in a statement. - Puget Sound Business Journal 3/13/09.
For more information, please visit http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/mariners/2009/03/17/who_loves_the_wbc.html