New Mexico tourism visits at record levels, jobs also increasing

New Mexico's tourism efforts keep breaking records.

That's according to an announcement Tuesday from Gov. Susana Martinez and Tourism Department Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Latham, which noted that 700,000 more trips were taken in 2015 than 2014, bringing the total trips up to 33.4 million.

Martinez and Latham linked the growth in visits to the state's New Mexico True campaign, which launched in 2012 and now includes a variety of digital and physical advertising.

Recent milestones include reaching 150,000 photos shared on Instagram with the hashtag #NMTrue or #NewMexicoTrue and the announcement of an inaugural New Mexico True Fest that will take place over Labor Day weekend. The state also announced expanded distribution of the weekly broadcast New Mexico True Television to national audiences of around 20 million, starting on July 1.

“The strong growth in visitation over the past four years can be attributed to increased awareness of New Mexico as a destination through the New Mexico True campaign, which is also successful as a platform for unified messaging for New Mexico’s tourism industry,” said Latham in a statement.

Direct visitor spending in the state totals about $6.1 billion, and the industry contributes roughly 89,000 jobs. Leisure and hospitality grew by 3,400 jobs, or 3.6 percent, from May 2015 to May 2016, according to data released last month by the Department of Workforce Solutions.