Aired on Beartooth NBC on 1/23/2012
by Kristin Price
President Obama recently signed an executive order to increase travel and tourism across the United States.
New initiatives aim to speed up the time it takes to process a visa, encouraging more foreign travel. The Executive Director of the Montana Lodging and Hospitality Association, Stuart Doggett, says with two national parks in the state, it’s a positive promotion for Montana.
“We have a little over 10 million non-resident visitors coming to the state and they’re spending about $2.5 billion annually in our economy. It’s not only good for lodging , it’s good for restaurants, it’s good for local, main-stream businesses and it’s good for gas stations and other businesses that benefits when a tourist spends their dollars,” says Doggett.
Doggett says Montana should be one of the biggest beneficiaries of federal efforts to bring more money and travel into the national parks.
