One of the boats that runs between Waterton Townsite and Goat Haunt is the International. Built in 1927, the International has carried thousands of visitors across the border during its lifetime.
Passengers can disembark for a brief sightseeing opportunity, while others take the boat to start multi-day backpacking trips. (Photo by Glacier National Park / NPS)
During the past two years, nonresident tourists visiting Montana spent a combined $5.82 billion in the Treasure State, an all-time high.
That’s according to a new report by the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research (ITRR) at the University of Montana, which examined nonresident spending during 2022 and 2023. Compared to the last two-year study, covering 2021 and 2022, average annual nonresident spending at gas stations, local restaurants, hotels and other tourism-oriented businesses grew by 2.5%.
Among the state’s five designated tourism regions, Glacier Country, comprising the western portion of Montana, saw a two-year average of $1.9 billion in annual nonresident spending, accounting for more than a third of all traveler expenditures. Yellowstone Country was next with $1.36 billion in average annual spending.
“Over the years the two regions have jockeyed for position, but along with the broader regional trends, they’ve seen increased spending across the board,” Kara Grau, the ITRR researcher who authored the report, said. She pointed out that the number of tourists in the report is down from the all-time high in 2021, even though spending continues to increase. “There’s certainly effects of inflation reflected in this data, as it looks like people are spending more because things cost more.”
The data comes from travel surveys and in-person interviews conducted by ITRR staff at more than 60 locations across the state, including gas stations, airports and rest areas. While ITRR releases annual survey data as well, the two-year averaged analyses help account for smaller sample sizes in some counties and some spending categories, as well as annual variations.
One major variation captured in the latest dataset is the disparity in spending between the Glacier Country tourism region and the Yellowstone Country tourism region. The two regions, which contain the gateway communities for the eponymous national parks that anchor the state’s tourism industry, have brought in the largest portions of tourists and spending for more than a decade, but usually Yellowstone Country holds a slight edge over its northwestern neighbor.
“This two-year report includes 2022, which was the year Yellowstone was partially closed because of flooding. There’s some effects of that spending patten that’s playing out because of the tourism hit Yellowstone Country took that year. I suspect that’s playing a role in the big difference we’re seeing in the two travel regions in this report,” Grau said.
In the 2021-2022 report, Glacier Country and Yellowstone Country accounted for 28% and 27% of the state’s nonresident spending respectively. In the latest report, that shifted to 33.6% and 23.4% respectively. In addition, Flathead County saw an annual average of $1 billion in spending, while Gallatin saw $964 million.
“As far as Flathead County goes, everyone knows the appeal of that area, and you see people flocking to it,” Glacier Country Director of Communications Lucy Beighle, said, though she also pointed to the Yellowstone floods as having a major affect statewide. “When people come from out of state, they tend to do a ‘Glacier to Geyser’ trip and hit both national parks. In 2022, people were calling about their Yellowstone reservations being canceled, and here in our office we helped direct them to other places that were open — with Yellowstone Country’s blessing of course.”
The post-pandemic boost in tourism for Montana as a whole has upended the marketing practices of tourism bureaus, with a greater emphasis on matching resident sentiment as many recreation site became overcrowded. Beighle said that Glacier Country, Montana’s western destination stewardship organization, has made a push to hold regular townhall meetings in the region’s major visitor hubs and with partner organizations, such as Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, to see how they can best mesh their messaging with community desires. That can mean helping promote certain community events, pushing people further off the beaten path or completely pulling an area off the marketing calendar. For example, Glacier Country no longer markets Whitefish as a summer destination due to the surging popularity of nearby Glacier National Park.
“We’re very cognizant that if we’re promoting anything at all, it has to be aligned with the residents. The quality of life of Montana residents is of the utmost importance to us. It’s just as, if not more important than the quality of a visitor’s experience,” Beighle said. “And overall it seems like across the state things are balancing out a little bit, but we want to remain cognizant of who wants what, when and where.”
Montana’s Yellowstone Country CEO Robin Hoover said that the region had rebounded well after the impacted 2022 visitation slump, but similar to Glacier Country, her office is focusing on dispersing tourists throughout the region to ease the impact, especially in the Gallatin corridor.
“When we hear the sentiment from one community that there are too many visitors, they’re being overrun, we’ll have another community raising their hand and saying, ‘We’ll take them,” Hoover said.
Gas, lodging and farmer’s markets
Gas and diesel was the top spending category in every travel region in Montana except for Glacier Country, where spending in restaurants and bars took the number-one spot. The two categories combined for 57% of traveler spending, followed by lodging at 19%.
Hiring outfitters and guides accounted for $545 million in visitor expenditures, gambling accounted for $36 million and money spent at farmer’s markets made up $6.4 million.
“Year to year I always like to see what the farmer’s market spending is,” said Kara Grau, the ITRR researcher. “It’s cool to see that as a big enough category to see in this higher-level view.”
Another area that Grau pays special attention to is money spent on Made in Montana products — a separate category from regular retail expenses. When she first started working on the nonresident surveys in 2009, the questionnaire didn’t ask about locally-sourced products, but as the state has emphasized products made or grown in the state it has emerged as a profitable economic sector. Visitors spent an average of $165 million on Made in Montana products in 2022 and 2023.
“We know that money spent on products produced locally have a bigger economic impact that mass-produced tourism trinkets. Plus, I think travelers prefer those options — they like having a cool experience a restaurant with locally sourced food and drinks, they like locally offered historical tours and buying things a farmers markets and shops that are made nearby,” Grau said. “They’re a better boost to the local and regional economy than something shipped in from out of state.”
The ITRR analysis of nonresident economic contribution examines visitor spending by Montana’s travel regions and counties. Here’s a breakdown of the report’s estimate of 2022/2023 visitor spending and the economic ripple effects across the state.
Average Annual nonresident spending by travel region:
- Central Montana — $534 million
- Glacier Country — $1.955 billion
- Missouri River Country — $261 million
- Southeast Montana — $819 million
- Southwest Montana — $886 million
- Yellowstone Country — $1.363 billion
$5.82 billion
Average overall nonresident traveler spending in Montana during 2022 and 2023
$1.481 billion
Spending on gas and diesel across the state
19
Counties saw more than $50 million in average annual spending
2.5%
Increase in spending from 2021-2022
$1,006,010,000
Money spent in Flathead County in 2022/2023, the highest in the state
$778.9 million
Spending in Flathead County that had a direct economic impact, such as purchases of goods and services
$401.3 million
Spending in Flathead County that had an indirect impact on the economy, such as purchases made by travel-related businesses or purchases by those employed in travel-related occupation
$942.2 million
Total economic impact of nonresident spending in Flathead County to the regional economy, including direct and indirect categories
$48.7 million
Amount spent by visitors statewide on vehicle repairs
$36.6 million
Amount spent by visitors gambling in Montana