AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – The City of Augusta is highlighting its recent achievements in the tourism industry.

“It’s such an integrated industry it takes a lot of partners to really have the success in Augusta that we have with tourism. This is a chance to pause to say thank you to al the partners that worked together,” said Destination Augusta President & CEO Bennish Brown.

Tourism took center stage at the Miller Theater on Monday, with the theater serving as the site for this year’s Experience Augusta Tourism Celebration.

The event honored individuals and organizations that have strengthened Augusta`s tourism and hospitality industry.

“Augusta is so fortunate that we have what I call a ‘multidimensional tourism industry.’ We have great economic impact from our sporting events. We have some major sporting events here. But we’re also a convention city,” said Brown.

Brown says Destination Augusta, the Augusta Sports Council, and Film Augusta all generated millions of dollars from people who have visited the city.

“We had 109 events that we tracked. That doesn’t include everything that we might night be aware of that brought in nearly 200,000 people. When you think about that, we brought in what almost equates to a population of Augusta,” said Brown.

He says he’s hopeful the impact of the tourism industry will help Augusta grow in the future.

“The industry has grown. When you think about our tourism economy, ten years ago was an economy where we tracked about $480 million,” said Brown.

Brown also says they’re making sure more people continue to visit Augusta.