(Arnolds Park)– The numbers are in when it comes to visitors to the Iowa Great Lakes over the 4th of July holiday. Kiley Zankowski of Vacation Okoboji tells KUOO news the numbers this year were the strongest they’ve been in awhile…
“We saw just about 140,000 visitors come to the Iowa Great Lakes this weekend which is an incredible number. It’s about a 20 percent increase over last year which we definitely expected an increase with the flooding last year, but it’s also an 11 percent increase over 2023. That’s great to see the growth that’s continuing to go and our occupancy rates were through the roof. So overall a very successful and wonderful weekend here in the Iowa Great Lakes.”
Zankowski says the numbers over the 4th were pretty much on par with those they’ve seen so far this summer…
“Numbers have been very good for the summer. We’re definitely seeing things uptick as we go into July and we’re expecting a very, very strong July. You know we’ve got a lot of great signature events coming up. We’ve got RAGBRAI coming to town as well, so we’re sure to see visitation is really high. But it’s been very fun to watch our visitation numbers and where people are coming from. Of course we’ve got a really, really strong pull across the Midwest but we’re seeing people all the way from Seattle to Main to Florida that are coming to the Iowa Great Lakes this summer and that’s really exciting for our community to have such a reach across the nation.”
Zankowski says we will be in the peak of the tourist season over the next couple of weeks…
“Our occupancy and visitation rates are looking really high for the next few weeks again as well, which is really great for our community not only in just seeing the area come to life and people learning about our area, but it’s a huge economic impact and great for our workforce as well.”
Zankowski adds its further evidence that their marketing efforts are paying off.
