More than 710,000 people visited Comanche County in 2018, spending approximately $185.3 million altogether.
Tourism in the county generated about $15.74 million in tax revenue for state and local coffers that year, supporting 2,420 jobs, according to a recent study by the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department.
The COVID-19 pandemic affected tourism in the area in 2020, resulting in lower numbers. Visitors spent about $23.08 million in Lawton-Fort Sill last year, according to the study.
The study shows that tourism is a vital part of the state and local economies, said Dr. Krista Ratliff, president and CEO of the Lawton-Fort Sill Chamber of Commerce.
“Lawton-Fort Sill has so many neat things to offer with the outdoors area, Medicine Park, the lakes, the rivers, the mountains for hiking and climbing,” she said. “Not spending money on tourism would have a long-term direct impact on our community because the revenue spending from visitors and the hotel stays – it has a full-circle effect, if you will."
“That’s critical because the Chamber is the only entity that actually works to build that fund instead of taking things away from that fund.”
Ratliff said when the Chamber spends money on tourism, it encourages people to visit Lawton and spend the night. And when people stay overnight, they generate guest tax revenues, which pay for the Chamber’s efforts to promote tourism.
The Lawton-Fort Sill Convention and Visitors Bureau, which promotes tourism in the area, is an arm of the Chamber and a beneficiary of the tax. Several other organizations, including the Lawton Philharmonic Orchestra and the Lawton Community Theatre, are funded with a portion of guest tax revenues.
Lawton’s efforts to promote tourism are funded by proceeds from the city’s guest tax, which applies only to out-of-town visitors. People who stay in the city’s hotels or motels pay the tax, which is a percentage of their lodging bill.
Earlier this year, Lawton residents voted to extend the tax and raise it from 5.5% to 7%. Voters overwhelmingly approved the measure by 76%.