Tourism is big business in Montana, and a big chunk of the state’s tourism business occurs in Flathead County and Kalispell, according to speakers at two recent meetings in Kalispell.

Statewide, tourism is a $2.3 billion industry, Norma Nickerson of the University of Montana’s Institute of Tourism and Recreation Research, told people at a Feb. 11 economic forum.

In 2010, some 10.5 million visitors traveled to Montana, a 4 percent increase from 10 million visitors to the state in 2009.

Visitor spending generated $153 million in state and local tax revenue in 2009, the most recent year for which information is available.

Tourists spend money in many segments, with most of their spending — 32 percent or about $711 million in 2009 — paying for gasoline and oil, according to data from the Montana Office of Tourism.

Visitors spent about $498 million in restaurants and bars in Montana in 2009, representing 22 percent of their spending in the state. They bought $192 million worth of groceries and snacks, which represented 8 percent of their spending. Retail sales spending totaled about $358 million or 16 percent of tourists’ spending.

Another 11 percent of their money was spent on hotels or other lodging facilities, about $240 million. That 11 percent doesn’t include campgrounds or RV parks, which received 2 percent of visitor spending, about $39 million.

Tourists spent 1 percent of their travel dollars to gamble in Montana, about $17 million.

Tourism was credited for creating 25,500 jobs in 2009 in Montana and provides $661 million in worker salaries. On average, every dollar spent by nonresident travelers in the state generates 30 cents in wage and salary income for Montana residents, according to the tourism office.

Last year, tourists spent $232 million in Flathead County, according to Diane Medler, director of the Kalispell Convention and Visitor Bureau.

Much of last year’s tourism success can be tied to the centennial celebration in Glacier National Park, she said. About 2.2 million people visited Glacier in 2010.

Surveys show that 67 percent of first-time visitors to Montana in any given year come to visit either Glacier or Yellowstone park, Katy Peterson, consumer marketing manager with the Montana Office of Tourism, said at last week’s Kalispell Chamber of Commerce lunch meeting. Of those people, 86 percent return to Montana, usually to a different place than they first visited.

People who visit Montana in the summer are attracted to the two national parks — Glacier and Yellowstone — and other outdoor attractions including mountains and forests and the activities they can engage in when visiting those places. Two-thirds of overnight vacations are spent in the Glacier Country or Yellowstone Country travel regions.

Winter visitors to Montana come to ski or snowboard. More of them arrive by plane than do people who visit the state in the summer, data show.

Surveys show the attributes that are important to visitors who come from other states are mostly related to the outdoors. Those travelers want to find clean waterways and clean air when they get to Montana, Nickerson said. They’re also looking for opportunities to view wildlife, see scenic vistas and view the night sky.

They also want to be able to access public lands and waterways and use walking and bike paths, she said.

Once they get to Montana, they tell tourism officials they are happy with those outdoor opportunities, Nickerson said.

“They’re happy with open space, so we have to be careful with what we change,” she said.

State tourism officials are focusing on a new segment of tourism, Nickerson said — geotourism.

It incorporates the concept of sustainable tourism, that destinations should remain unspoiled for future generations, while protecting a place’s character. Two geotourism maps have been created for Montana; one focuses on the Crown of the Continent area around Glacier Park and the other on the greater Yellowstone region.

“What visitors want when they come to Montana are the same reasons we live here,” Nickerson said.

Those geotravelers make up a group state tourism officials want to attract, Peterson said, for many reasons. Geotravelers spend more of their money on travel and more time here than other people do, she said. They will cut other spending before they cut travel from their budget. The average geotraveler is well educated, environmentally aware and interested in the social and cultural aspects of travel.

The biggest complaint that tourism researchers hear, Nickerson said, is the lack of places where visitors can recycle items.

They also are not happy with rest areas, road conditions and the low level of environmental practices by lodging facilities. They want more than just a hotel that offers to let them use a towel for more than one day, Nickerson said.

Overall visitation to Montana is expected to increase by 2 percent this year, compared to 2010, Nickerson said, based on surveys of business owners in the tourism industry.

Airline travel in Montana increased by 2 percent in 2010 compared to 2009 and is predicted to increase by 1 percent this year.

The number of hotel rooms sold in 2010 increased 5.6 percent from 2009 and is expected to increase another 1.5 percent in 2011. In Kalispell, there was a 4.3 percent increase in rooms sold.

Skier visits were up 2.3 percent for the 2009-10 season and are expected to increase by another 2 percent this year.

Although travelers aren’t spending at the levels they did in 2007, “we expect it to continue rising,” Nickerson said.

Reporter Shelley Ridenour may be reached at 758-4439 or by e-mail at sridenour@dailyinterlake.com.