WinMan Trails in Vilas County continues to see year over year growth with 2025 being up almost 10% across the board.
The trail system and campground tracks its own economic impact and find that its visitors are contributing about 5 million dollars to local economy.
WinMan Operations Director Isaac Cowart says they’re just part of the story.
“We hear this story a lot. Specifically, grandparents or parents say, ‘My kids and grandkids come to visit me more than they ever have in the past, because there is just more things that they want to do in the region,’” said Cowart. “WinMan is one of those. Certainly, for us locally, the paved trails and the continued growth of restaurants and shopping, but it all helps each other.”
Tourism remains Vilas County's largest industry, supporting 2,147 jobs in 2025.
It’s a similar story in Oneida County where one in nine jobs are directly related to tourism.
The county saw a nearly 4% increase in direct visitor spending, outpacing the inflation rate.
“It's always exciting to see those numbers go up, because we know how much that means to our local residents. We were thrilled to see record breaking numbers again this year in almost every category,” said Oneida County Tourism Council Chair and Three Lakes Area Visitor’s Bureau Executive Director Jacqui Sharpe.
| Total Economic Impact | |||
| Millions | % | ||
| County | 2024 | 2025 | Change |
| Wisconsin | $25,819 | $26,960 | 4.4% |
| Forest County | $25 | $26 | 5.5% |
| Iron County | $35 | $36 | 2.3% |
| Langlade County | $84 | $87 | 2.8% |
| Lincoln County | $113 | $115 | 2.3% |
| Oneida County | $394 | $408 | 3.6% |
| Price County | $37 | $39 | 3.6% |
| Vilas County | $383 | $402 | 5.2% |
Opportunities for growth
Sharpe says the increase in spending and economic impact comes as the number of visitors is starting to plateau.
“Just trying to keep an eye on the balance of when can we be bringing in more people, those shoulder seasons, the fall, the weekend festivals, things like that,” said Sharpe. “It's just interesting watching those numbers and trying to see what actually is happening as we watch the spending grow.”
Things like the Hodag Dome have already helped with that, building up visitors for sporting events that aren’t weather dependent. Rhinelander recently completed a study that found the area could support a 500-plus person conference center which would also help fill in that gap.
WinMan has taken on its biggest investment over the last couple of years by creating the $2.7 million WinMan BaseCamp.
The new campground features ‘Pop’s Lodge’ with saunas, showers, restrooms, and lounge. There’s tent and RV sites. WinMan is also currently building cabins that will be available to rent.
Cowart says a campground has long been on trail users wish list for WinMan.
“I think that is a testament to the tourism trends over the last decade or so,” said Cowart. “There's more people wanting to come and visit and stay. They're looking for great places to do that, and so we invested and have committed a lot of time and energy into the campground, which is now open and accepting reservations.”
What will 2026 bring?
As people in the tourism industry reflect on last year, there’s a mix of feelings going into this year’s peak tourism season.
The Northwoods is coming off its strongest winter in three years. A warm spring led to a strong start across parts of the Northwoods.
“Everyone is very excited to continue that momentum of a good winter coming out of a good year, and welcome people back this summer,” said Sharpe.
The U.S. is also dealing with rising inflation and gas prices that are still about 80-cents a gallon more expensive than they were at this time last year.
Sharpe says that’s not necessarily a bad thing for the Northwoods tourism industry in terms of getting visitors.
“There's a much greater impact on like fuel for airline tickets,” said Sharpe. “Everything goes up, and even though driving becomes more expensive, that driving vacation becomes more appealing than going farther, getting on a plane, so generally that bodes well for a destination like ours.”
Cowart says it’s been a bit of a slow start to summer for WinMan, but he expects it to kick up in July and August.
He and others he talks to in the industry are trying to be realistic about the economic headwinds, while feeling confident in the consistency the industry has built over the last decade.
“I think that's the general consensus is they'll continue to come as long as we continue to do our job of providing an exceptional tourism experience across the board,” said Cowart.
