Door County tourism officials thinking positively Only four counties drew in more dollars from tourists last year For The News-Chronicle The resorts, restaurants and shops of Door County attracted $415.5 million in spending from visitors in 2000. While the numbers were solid - fifth-highest among the 72 Wisconsin counties - the overall picture showed "a flat year" for the Peninsula, said Tom Lyons, spokesman for the Door County Chamber of Commerce. "That's up about 2.56 percent from spending of about $405 million in 1999," Lyons said. The spending figures for Wisconsin tourism were released last week by state Tourism Secretary Richard "Moose" Speros during a breakfast visit with the Door County Chamber of Commerce at the Landmark Resort in Egg Harbor. Overall, Speros said, the Door County tourism industry deserves compliments "for what they contribute to the state." The work done in Door County helps assure Wisconsin of a strong tourism service industry for the future. While expenditures are a key measurement for success, the state also tracks employment, resident income and tax revenue directly attributable to visitors, Speros said. In Door County, for example, the money spent by tourists helps sustain the equivalent of 13,596 full-time jobs and income to local residents of more than $165 million, according to the state numbers. Vacation spending in the county also generates almost $59 million in state and local tax revenue. Those statistics put primarily rural Door County into some pretty heady company. Only four counties scored better than Door: Milwaukee County, the state's largest, which leads in tourism spending with $1.5 billion; Dane County, which includes the state capital of Madison and the University of Wisconsin; Sauk County, home to the family-vacation hotspots of Wisconsin Dells and the Circus World Museum in Baraboo; and Waukesha County, which includes the booming Milwaukee suburb of the same name and which has the third-largest population among the counties. Statewide, $9.9 billion in tourism spending translated last year to more than 283,000 jobs, personal income of $5.6 billion, and state and local tax revenue of almost $1.5 billion. Continued growth is expected to make tourism "the No. 1 service industry in the world by 2005," Speros said. With tourism growing that fast, competition becomes more challenging to the point that every Wisconsin county plays a role in the statewide success of the industry, Speros said.