PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) - Tourism in the Mountain State is growing and there's numbers to prove it. Officials say in 2014, tourism had a $4.5 billion impact on the state's economy.

Dean Runyan and Associates says tourists spent $12 million per day statewide resulting in the creation of 46,000 jobs.

The Greater Parkersburg Convention and Visitors Bureau says in Wood County alone, visitors spent over $120 million in our community.

Without tourist spending, West Virginia households would have to pay nearly $700 dollars in additional taxes.

"Tourism is something that's growing. I think it is a bright spot in what sometimes seems to be a bleak economic outlook. If you look at the demographics of all the state's around us, there just projected to get more crowded and more crazy in the next twenty years. West Virginia is going to continue to look like a great place to get away from it all," says Mark Lewis, President of Great Parkersburg CVB.

Lewis says this is the most significant impact in tourism for Wood County that we've seen.