RVs, Amish food, the fair, Notre Dame games and quilt gardens helped bring in visitors spending $273 million with an impact of more than $400 million to Indiana’s Elkhart County last year, according to a study released Oct. 9 by the Elkhart County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

According to a report by The Elkhart Truth, the study by Certec Inc. showed travel and tourism brought in $401.6 million, up $23 million over the previous study, which looked at 2009.

That figure includes the $273.1 million in direct expenditures plus the so-called “ripple effect” of spending by local people employed because of those tourism dollars.

“This growth in visitor spending is significant when you consider Elkhart County was in a deep economic recession in 2009,” said Diana Lawson, executive director of the convention and visitors bureau.

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