North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory and State Commerce officials released figures on Tuesday showing 97 of North Carolina's100 counties saw increases in visitor spending in 2014. Data from Visit North Carolina showed that domestic visitors spent a record $21.3 billion statewide in 2014, an increase of 5.5 percent from the previous year. Visitor spending neared $5 billion in Mecklenburg, topped $2 billion in Wake and topped $1 billion in Guilford and Dare counties.

State tax receipts as a result of visitor spending topped $1 billion in 2014. Local tax revenues directly resulting from visitor spending totaled more than $636 million. Visitor expenditures directly supported nearly 205,000 jobs and more than $4.9 billion in payroll statewide.

The visitor spending figures come from an annual study commissioned by Visit North Carolina and conducted by the U.S. Travel Association.