A bump in Nebraska tourism in the last fiscal year resulted in the largest lodging tax collection in the state’s history; over $5.6-Million.
State Tourism Director John Ricks says events like the eclipse and annual crane migrations obviously impacted the numbers, but a recent effort to market to Nebraska’s neighbors also contributed…

Ricks says Denver, Topeka, Wichita, Kansas City, Des Moines, Sioux Falls and more were targeted by tourism advertisers. He adds the challenge for the future will be sustaining those revenue numbers.
Ricks says a large part of those numbers were, of course, driven by last year’s total eclipse. However, Ricks adds that while the initial impact of eclipse tourism was huge, he believes the event served another, arguably more important function…

Ricks hopes these “non-visitors” will come back and continue to spend money in the state.