Listen to the full interview with Lisa Burke on our Kubota Podcast
Tourism continues to show strong growth across Lincoln County, with new numbers highlighting its impact on the local economy, according to Visit North Platte Executive Director Lisa Burke.
Lodging tax collections saw a noticeable jump in 2025, driven in part by expanded lodging options in the area.
“Lincoln County collected 1.36 million dollars in lodging tax and that is almost 10% up over what we were in 2024 and the majority of that increase is because GreyBull is now online,” Burke said.
Tourism remains a major economic driver, keeping millions of dollars circulating locally each year.
“That is money that's put back into our community that could go somewhere else, but we're lucky enough that it stays here in Lincoln County,” she said.
The industry supports a wide range of jobs across multiple sectors, from hospitality to retail.
“They're not just hotel people… some of them are in the restaurant side and the retail side,” Burke said.
Visitor trends remain steady, with hundreds of thousands of people staying overnight in the county each year.
“They'll spend $381 per day in Lincoln County and on average we're seeing about 650,000 overnight visitors in our community every year,” she said.
Online engagement continues to grow as well, with more people using Visit North Platte’s website to plan trips.
“They spend 2.75 minutes on our website, which is a big deal… they're finding things that interest them,” Burke said.
In-person visits are also increasing, with significantly more people stopping by the visitor center in the past year.
“We saw a pretty sizable jump this year… there's about a total of 14,000 that come in,” she said.
Visit North Platte also continues to reinvest in the community through grants supporting local events and attractions.
“They saw 39 applications for grants and they awarded $156,962 in grants to those Lincoln County entities,” Burke said.
Beyond annual grants, long-term investments have helped shape local infrastructure and attractions.
“Our Board of Directors has given out 5.9 million dollars in improvement fund grants over the past 18 years,” she said.
The annual sandhill crane migration remains a key seasonal driver, bringing both visitors and economic impact to the region.
“There’s 28 million dollars in visitor spending… they attribute that to 35,000 unique visitors,” Burke said.
This year’s migration season brought even more activity than usual.
“I would say we were easily up 25%,” she said.
Burke said community involvement remains at the heart of local tourism efforts, especially with upcoming events like the Excellence in Tourism Awards.
“What I appreciate… is they are truly nominations from people in our community,” she said.
She added that the connection between quality of life and tourism continues to play a major role in the area’s growth.
“When people like to live here, then people like to visit here,” Burke said.