What Washington gets for its tourism dollars

Plus some precinct-level vote maps to geek out over

The numbers show tourism is bringing in big bucks for Washington and the state’s contribution to that looks cost-effective, but we’re still lagging behind our competition.

Here’s why you should care about this: Tourism is the state’s fourth-biggest industry behind tech, aerospace, and forest products, per the State of Washington Tourism, the nonprofit which partners with the state to promote tourism and travel. This public-private partnership is a somewhat unusual arrangement; most other states have state-run tourism departments of some sort. The intent behind this setup is that creative control over marketing rests with the hospitality sector, whose contributions towards said touristy stuff get a matching contribution from the state. That was capped at just $4.5 million this past biennium.