APPLETON, Wis. — At the end of April, the History Museum at The Castle launched a new exhibit looking at life in the Fox River Valley.
“We’re telling an overarching history of the valley, something that hasn’t been done before. It’s not told anywhere else,” said Dustin Mack, the chief curator at the museum in downtown Appleton. “People are going to learn about the culture, the people and the innovations that took place here over time.”
It’s one of hundreds of museums and attractions around Wisconsin that help bolster the state’s tourism economy.
Mack said about half the museum’s visitors come from more than 100 miles away. That includes international travelers.
“Most of the people who come from out of the area come to see our Houdini exhibit,” he said. “That’s what we’re most famous for, but we want them to learn about the history of the valley and what it means to be from this place while they’re here.”
Tourism is a roughly $24 billion industry in the state, according to the most recent available figures from the state.
Maddie Jack is the manager of marketing communications at the Fox Cites Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“We trend to lean a little more towards out-of-state visitation, but the drive market is really our bread and butter,” she said. “We’re seeing people from the Twin Cities, from Chicago, from Milwaukee, from Madison. That’s really where we get a lot of our visitation.”
The state has seen record figures for tourism spending in recent years. Jack said there’s optimism 2024 is shaping up as for another strong year.
“Meetings and conventions in 2024 and 2025 will probably outpace 2023, so we’re looking at a good future here for tourism,” she said.
Mack said staying fresh and offering new things is important to attracting visitors, both new and repeat. He said the museum sees the role it plays in helping the overall picture of tourism in Wisconsin.
“We know that we draw people for all 50 states all year. We get international visitors that come here,” Mack said. “They’re spending their tourism dollars at the museum, but they’re also spending it at other attractions in Wisconsin.”