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MISSOULA – Last year 12.5 million visitors contributed nearly $3.4 billion in travel spending, according to a recent report from the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research at the University of Montana. But the 2017 fire season may have stifled the state’s potential gains.

Forty-seven percent – or 5.8 million – of visitors traveled to the state in the third quarter from July through September and spent 52 percent of the $3.4 billion. Travel groups spent an average of $130.75 per day, for a total of $1.7 billion during the summer months.

Yet, it is likely that this figure would...