Beer City USA Tourism Has Tripled

According to Experience Grand Rapids, the number of people traveling to Beer City USA has more than tripled since 2015.

According to WOOD, Experience Grand Rapids contracted a study group by the name of Anderson Economic Group to do a study on the economic impact of beer tourism to the region. The results are in and from using the originally questionnaire from 2015, the tourism from beer enthusiast has financially grown from just over $12 million four years ago to nearly $40 million. Dang...that is a lot of beer.

The study that was released from Experience Grand Rapids says that over 90,000 beer tourists have showed up in 2019 and one quarter of those traveled from out of state to enjoy Beer City USA.

In Kent County alone, nearly 400 jobs were supported by the tourists and the county brought in almost $10 million in earnings which tripled the earnings and more than doubled the number of jobs back in 2015.

Some of the reasons Experience Grand Rapids attributes to the rise in beer tourism is the Beer City passport, Beer Month GR, as well as businesses and hotels taking on the "Beer City USA" moniker.