Sarah Trafton is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media in a recent report by Empire State Development, Columbia County in 2019, surpassed the five other Hudson Valley counties of Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester, in labor income from tourism, at 9.9 percent, way above the Hudson Valley average of 4.4 percent. Likewise, Greene County’s labor income from tourism outpaced the regional average for the Catskills Region, including Greene, Ulster, Sullivan and Delaware counties, at 14.6 percent in 2019, compared to the region’s average of 14.1 percent. Greene County had the highest dependence on tourism employment in the region, with 23.2 percent of all jobs in the county. Greene County had a 4.1 percent increase in tourist spending; travelers spent $192.6 million in Greene County. Columbia County visitors spent $177.4 million. According to the report, tourism generated $187 million in state and local taxes in the Catskill region; and $556 million in the Hudson Valley. Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.