Patricia Doxsey is reporting in the Daily Freeman tourism spending rose last year in the Hudson Valley and Catskills, according to a state-commissioned report. Ulster County Executive Michael Hein said 2015 was the sixth consecutive year the county experienced in increase in tourist spending. According to the report prepared by Oxford economics company Tourism Economics, visitors brought $1.2 billion into the Catskills in 2015. Of that, 46 percent was spent in Ulster County. Statewide traveler spending last year was $63.1 billion, a 19 percent increase from the state’s pre-recession peak set in 2008. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.