Study: Tourism on rise in Maryland

Tourism officials say they've seen a 4.3 percent increase in tourism spending in Maryland.

According to the report, Maryland tourists and travelers spent $13.1 billion on travel expenses in 2010. On average, spending from 166 visitors supports one job in Maryland.

There are currently 130,000 Marylanders directly employed in full-time tourism activities.

Most of the spending is on transportation and food, followed by lodging, shopping and entertainment.

Maryland Office of Tourism Development Executive Director Margot Amelia says the marketing efforts have been on the states' key feeder markets of Washington, DC, Philadelphia and Baltimore with year-round communication through digital and traditional media.

The State has seen visitation up in 2010 when 27.2 million visited Maryland.

The increase is considered to be substantially greater than the 1.1 percent growth factor across the nation and greater than the rate for other mid-Atlantic States.