Byline: Paul Hammel
Oct. 25--LINCOLN -- Despite a slight drop in Interstate 80 traffic this summer, Nebraska saw a healthy increase in hotel visitors this year, state tourism officials said Tuesday. State lodging tax revenue -- one major measuring stick of tourism -- is expected to end the year up by 11 percent, said Tom Doering, research coordinator for the Nebraska Department of Economic Development. "People were traveling anyway. (High fuel prices) didn't seem to curtail demand as some had feared," Doering said. Doering and State Tourism Director Christian Hornbaker both said that the state's sales pitch this spring -- urging Nebraskans and residents of ...