Jackson Hole “Dashboard” reveals strong tourism economy

The Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce Economic Dashboard indicates that summer tourism numbers are up in both Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Year-to-date, Grand Teton had seen almost 297 thousand visitors, up over 16 percent from 2017. Yellowstone saw over 454 thousand visitors, up 8.22 percent from the same time a year ago.

At the same time, Jackson Hole Airport enplanements were up 9.22 percent for the calendar year through May. Six month hotel occupancy was up 4.79 percent while the average daily rate, $339, was down .88 percent from a year ago.

Those visitor numbers helped Teton County collect $2.2 million in sales and use taxes from the state of Wyoming during April, 15,85 percent higher than 2017. The county’s Lodging Tax generated nearly $43,707 in revenue during March, up 10.9 percent from a year ago.

Because of the influx of visitors over the year, Jackson Hole economists predict a 16 percent increase in anticipated lodging tax revenue during Fiscal Year 2018. Through March, it has already generated over $5.9 million.

The “Dashboard” also shows the number of real estate transactions completed in Jackson Hole during the first quarter was up compared to a year ago, but the dollar volume of real estate sales was down.

According to the report, there were 141 real estate transactions in the first quarter, up 21.55 percent from the same time period a year ago. The dollar volume of those sales was just over $202 million, down 2.13 percent from last year.

Chamber economists said they were not surprised by the increased number of real estate transactions, given a larger number of people actually moving to Jackson and the number of local people buying homes in the community.