Reason to celebrate: sesquicentennial helped drive tourism to historic heights.(Wisconsin's tourist industry)

Mary Denis is confident new marketing programs and expanded convention bookings will push traveler expenditures even higher for the metropolitan Milwaukee area in 1999 and 2000.

"We are on a roll," said Denis, the vice president of tourism for the Greater Milwaukee Convention & Visitors Bureau. "We are thrilled by 10 percent growth in 1998 and think we can do even better in coming years."

In the five-county southeast Wisconsin region, visitors spent $1.83 billion, adding $110.8 million to local taxing districts in 1998. All visitors to Wisconsin spent more than $7.7 billion, contributing $1.3 billion in tax revenue to state and local coffers.

The …