Around 1,000 new hotel rooms have been added to St. Joseph County over the last two years.

On top of that, almost 400 are scheduled to be available for tourists this year, and more hotels are scheduled beyond 2018.

The South Bend Tribune reports that big reasons for the swell in hotel rooms include Notre Dame as well as Visit South Bend-Mishawaka‘s efforts to make Michiana a hub for youth sports. That includes an amateur hockey tournament this past weekend where 176 games were played between South Bend and Culver.

However, it also puts pressure on an employment market that sports a 3.6% unemployment rate. More hotel rooms means more need for staff to manage them. Despite that challenge, however, developers are being creative with their hotels rooms, either placing them near places like Notre Dame or the new Four Winds Casino or introducing new concepts for older facilities.