Tourism in Eastern Idaho is on the rise

Business owner Jerry Mitchell has seen an increase in traffic to his restaurant, and each year the numbers grow. “It’s a major impact on our business. It starts about this time of year and it will run through the end of August/ September.”

Idaho Falls draws in thousands of people annually. here are their top reasons for visiting the area:

to visit family and friends.

to experience the outdoors.

to tour the region.

Those who are from the area say Idaho Falls 15 years ago versus today, is ” well– the differences are night and day”.

Public Relations for the Museum of Idaho, Jeff Carr, grew up in Idaho and says, “the people have always known Idaho Falls to be a great home base for outdoors adventure and that sort of thing, but there really is this sense that we can have this cultural opportunity here as well.”

Since 2010, tourism has increased from $2.7 to $3.3 billion dollars spent here in Idaho, and those numbers continue to rise each year. Tourism employs 4,400 jobs in Eastern Idaho and a total of 41,600 across the state.

Eastern Idaho Visitors Center says they are anticipating a larger turn out this summer season from last year.

Deborah M. Chessey, Director of Marketing at the Museum of Idaho feels, “people got a really good look at Idaho Falls last year, and they know about our community and they know how pleasant the people in Idaho Falls are. There are a lot of really good things going on in Idaho Falls this year as well.”

Yellowstone National Park is also expecting a large turn out for its summer season, and Mitchell says, “when Yellowstone does good, we do good.”