Tourism in Minnesota is a major industry and creates countless jobs and large revenues for the state. Is it no wonder why the Lodging & Camping facilities, especially seasonal, like to see our public schools letting out early for spring and then start after Labor Day each year. When the state and schools cooperate in doing this, it generates huge additional revenues for both. It also allows students who need to work in the tourism industry, access to jobs that start in early spring and go into the fall. This benefits operators and their employees with work flow issues and gives extra income to their employees! Recently, it has been a disappointment that the State of Minnesota could not come up with a budget for 2011 and have had to shut down all state related business and jobs. The effect is widespread and also has hit tourism hard in camping and state parks revenues. This loss cannot be made up for prime time summer camping. Hopefully, the legislators will soon work out a compromised budget to get the state and tourism rolling again. We need good laws and state supported tourism efforts to keep the industry healthy! Let’s all do our part to support a healthy economy for 2011.
