The Importance of Traveler Spending on Locally Produced Goods & Services Abstract An evaluation of visitor spending on locally produced products and services was conducted to assist in the analysis of economic impact contributed by nonresidents to the state of Montana. Many economic impact analyses depend on visitor spending data, which is usually collected as primary data and segregated into generic expenditure categories. The purpose of this study was to expand the retail and services categories to explore spending on locally made products and services. Results showed that visitors who do purchase local products and services spend significantly more in every spending category except one, and are a distinct group from those who do not purchase locally made products and services.