This week marks the 37th annual celebration of the contributions and accomplishments of the U.S. travel industry.

The industry’s theme this year is “travel works.” Travel officials across the nation believe the industry builds the foundation on the many things Americans value, including a strong economy, job opportunities, a steady career, a good place to live, lasting memories and connections with those around us.

Sarah Shields, the director of industry communications for the U.S. Travel Association, said in a recent press release that the industry delivers more than $2 trillion to the U.S. economy, support more than 15 million American jobs and are pivotal to helping lower the trade deficit.

But it doesn’t stop there, according to Shields.

“Across the country — from the biggest urban centers to the smallest spotlight towns — travel works for Americans every day,” she said. “It generates tax revenue that funds essential services for communities, such as police and firefighters and public school teachers. It offers accessible and meaningful jobs — a first job in travel, tourism or hospitality can provide a teenager with valuable work experience or help someone reentering the workforce get back on their feet, turning (the job) into a lifelong career that provides for their family.”

Shields said travel and tourism work for Americans in ways that can’t always be seen but nonetheless make an impact, such as building bridges between communities and cultures and making memories that last a lifetime.

Limestone County

Athens-Limestone County Tourism President Teresa Todd said Limestone County employs a diverse workforce of local and corporate personnel, from family-owned farms such as Isom’s Orchard to the county’s many hotels and restaurants.

Todd said she believed 2020 was on target for a great year for hotels and restaurants after the industries showed a substantial increase in the first two months of the year. She said travel-related earning for Limestone County in 2019 was $43,858,282, a 5.5% increase over 2018.

She said travel-related expenditures for the county in 2019 was $145,077,678, an increase of 4.9%, while lodging tax for 2019 also increased 4.9% from $688,934 in 2018 to $722,738 in 2019.

Todd said she believes travel and tourism in the state is in good shape as a whole.

“People love to travel and will continue to do so,” she said. “Many travelers are searching for smaller, rural communities like Athens-Limestone County to call their ‘new home’ to provide them a calm and safer feeling for their ‘new normal.’”

State numbers

Alabama tourism had a record year in 2019, but numbers are expected to fall due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Alabama Tourism Department said 28 million visitors spent nearly $17 billion in the state in 2019, which was the third straight year that travel spending grew by more than $1 billion in the state. Tourist spending increased nearly 8% statewide, according to the agency.

But that growth streak will likely end because people are reducing travel during the pandemic, said state tourism director Lee Sentell. Revenues this year could decline to as low as $14 billion, he said.

“That would put us where we were three years ago,” Sentell said. With schools out early to guard against spreading the virus that causes COVID-19, a longer-than-normal beach season could help fill some of the gap, he said.

A report from the tourism agency said the state’s travel and hospitality industry employed more than 200,000 people for the first time last year, but that also could change because of the pandemic since many hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues and other attractions have scaled back operations or closed since mid-March.

Coastal Baldwin County was the state’s top moneymaker for tourism last year, with $5.2 billion in revenues and about 54,000 people employed around Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. Yet the coast is just now reopening after being shut down for weeks because of the new coronavirus.

— The Associated Press contributed to this story.