Record number of tourists visited Montana in 2012

MISSOULA (AP) — A University of Montana study has found that more tourists visited Montana in 2012 and spent more money than in any previous year.

The school's Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research estimates that 10.8 million people visited Montana last year and spent $3.27 billion. That's a 2 percent increase in visitors from 2011 and the money spent is about a 15 percent increase.

"People are more comfortable than they were a few years back and it shows," Norma Nickerson, director of the institute, told the Missoulian (http://bit.ly/12xMXat). "They are going on those outfitted trips...