My take: The growing impact of life science, tourism

Life science has been an overlooked area of the economy, but its impact is becoming harder to ignore. 

The energy I saw coming out of the Thursday conference and Merck's plans to build a $1 billion manufacturing and research hub are just a couple of examples of the strength of this sector.

As Wilmington Mayor and former Gov. John Carney noted in his remarks at the conference, it took  30 years to get to a point where we have a thriving life science ecosystem.

That period included two seismic changes, with a shrinking DuPont leaving the pharmaceutical business, and the end of Delaware R&D, and other cutbacks at AstraZeneca.

While its  R&D won't return,  AstraZeneca has quietly expanded its presence in manufacturing while operating a US commercial headquarters near Wilmington.

 Filling that gap was the growth of Incyte Corp. and a support structure for start-ups from  The Innovation Space, the University of Delaware, and others.

Manufacturing is now sharing center stage, with a half-a-billion-dollar site under construction in Middletown and  Merck next in line.

Travel and tourism key industry in New Castle County

Another overlooked area of the economy is northern Delaware's travel and tourism sector.

The Greater Wilmington Convention and Visitors Bureau just released its 2024 annual report. They noted that as of 2023,  travel and tourism in northern Delaware is a $3.1 billion industry that accounted for 22,000 jobs and $346 million in tax revenues.

 All three tourism-related categories, taxes, jobs, and spending, were up by double digits from the COVID-19 year of 2021.

While Sussex County tourism gets much of the attention,   stats for New Castle County are comparable to those of its neighbor to the south.

A 2023 state tourism report has Sussex edging out New Castle County in tourism employment. However, visitor spending is greater in New Castle County, perhaps due to more tax-free shopping options. - Doug Rainey, chief content officer.