The Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board recently provided an update on the county’s tourism economy to the Montgomery County Commissioners, covering everything from the hotel industry and international travel to marketing, arts and culture.

“We continue to have great momentum in the tourism industry, and our team is extremely focused,” said Mike Bowman, President and CEO of the VFTCB.

Last year, over 2 million hotel rooms were sold across the county, generating more than $250 million in revenue for the hotel industry. Additionally, with three new hotels opening, the inventory has increased to over 9,000 rooms.

Bowman also highlighted the findings included in a report from Tourism Economics that compared last year with 2016, when Act 18 approved an increase in hotel tax from 2 percent to 4 percent.

Among other things, the report found that the tourism economy is up more than 8.3% to $1.65 billion and that sector employment is up 3.7% to more than 20,000 jobs.

Meanwhile, VFTCB International Tourism Sales Manager, Jessie Shi, reported that India is currently one of the fastest-growing outbound tourism markets in the world and is already one of the top five for international visitors and spenders in Montgomery County.