Arkansas’ travel and tourism industry, which had been enjoying more than a decade of growth, posted double-digit percentage declines in 2020. For the months of Jan-Feb 2021, tourism tax revenue was down a whopping 20.5% compared to the same period in 2020.

• How did NWA fair? Warning, these numbers aren't pretty...in terms of the 2% tourism tax collection, Benton County was down nearly (58%) and Washington County was down (37%) compared to Jan-Feb of 2020.
• Northwest Arkansas monthly employment averages for the tourism industry revealed an (8.3%) decline in Jan-Feb 2021 compared to the same period last year - setting NWA back to the winter of 2018 in number of tourism jobs.

If this brief recap wasn't enough, you can find the full industry report HERE.