(Arnolds Park)– Labor Day was only this past Monday but tourism officials in the Iowa Great Lakes are already starting to reflect on the summer traffic. Kylie Zankowski of Okoboji Tourism and Vacation Okoboji tells KUOO news there were quite a few ups and downs obviously with the weather and the flooding…
“Of course those places like boat rentals and things of that nature definitely suffered a little bit more than others and some hotels as well. It really kind of depended on the business. Of course they had a really great end of the season. The last couple of weeks were quite successful and made us feel a little bit better, but really did see a dip there for some businesses anywhere from 20 to 50 percent so it just kind of depended on the time of year and the type of business.”
Zankowski says they should have more definitive numbers over the next month or two…
“It takes about 30 to 60 days for different data to come in for us, so we’ll be monitoring that and then we’ll have a better understanding truly of the economic impact of both the floods and the tourism season this summer.”
Tourism officials are hopeful that a shoulder season event, Oktoberfest which is coming up later this month, will help boost the numbers somewhat.
