BY CHAD LIVENGOOD
(Excerpts from Story Posted on Srpingfield News Leader's Website) -
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Greene County beat out Taney County — home of Branson, Missouri's entertainment capitol — by generating $521 million in economic impact from tourism. Taney County racked in $461 million, followed by $160 million in Jasper County and $143 million in Stone County, according to the report.
Tourism-related industries employed 16,584 people in Greene County and 10,612 people in Taney County, according to the Missouri Division of Employment Security and a University of Missouri-Columbia study.
Southwest Missouri as a region finished second to the northwest region, which experienced a $2.5 billion economic impact, according to the report.
