Idaho lodges big increase

BOISE – Idaho’s hotel, motel and campground receipts jumped 9.5 percent this summer, a healthy increase but less than last year’s summer growth rate of nearly 12 percent.

Room receipts from June through September were nearly $174 million, according to state tourism officials. Fuel prices that exceeded $2.50 during the peak of summer travel season could have contributed to the slower growth, officials said.

“While tourism is a major contributor to Idaho’s bottom line and one reason our economy is among the nation’s strongest, we still feel the pinch of higher gas prices,” said Commerce & Labor Director Roger Madsen.

Idaho’s tourism industry is experiencing its third straight record-setting year. Year-to-date, lodging revenues are up 10 percent over the same 10-month period for 2005.

Good snowfall last winter resulted in one of the best ski and winter tourism seasons Idaho has experienced since the drought began in the late 1990s.

Though summer tourism was strong in most areas of the state, a few counties experienced declines. Most noticeable was Nez Perce County and the Lewiston area, where revenues slowed significantly during the final summer of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial. Lodging revenues dropped 8.5 percent in Nez Perce County, compared to revenues from the summer of 2005.