(Washington state) A Tourism Office Falls Victim to Hard Times

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

SEATTLE — An alluring billboard beckoned to motorists on a busy industrial corridor here this spring. It displayed just one image, a panoramic view of a valley and mountains and sunshine, and one word, “Montana.”

Who paid for that advertisement? The State of Montana, naturally, out of money it designated for tourism marketing this year.

“They’ve done a great job, and they’re incredibly visible,” said Tom Norwalk, the president and chief executive of Seattle’s Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We’re not doing that. We’re going to be fortunate in the next six months to be able to maintain a Web site.”

Washington State has plenty of beauty of its own, of course, but it will not be paying for billboards featuring Puget Sound or Mount Rainier or the Space Needle anytime soon. This month, as a result of wide-ranging budget cuts passed this year by the Democratic-controlled Legislature, Washington became the only state in the nation with no statewide tourism office and no state money to promote itself to travelers.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/12/us/12tourism.html

[Arctic Dave]

1. They will still get my money when I go down in August to climb Mt Rainier.

Woohoo!

[Bluesbreaker]

2. Huge Mistake: Learn from others

In 1993, Colorado became the only state to eliminate its tourism marketing function, when it cut its $12 million promotion budget to zero. As a result, Colorado’s domestic market share plunged 30% within two years, representing a loss of over $1.4 billion in tourism revenue annually. Over time, the revenue loss increased to well over $2 billion yearly. In the important summer resort segment, Colorado dropped from first place among states to 17th.

An analysis of nine states’ visitor marketing budgets and taxes generated by visitors revealed that the range of cuts to marketing budgets that could be made before cuts begin to have a negative impact on revenues is between 1.5 and 0.4 percent. (Visitors face greater barriers in traveling to Washington than to many other states.) Washington is making a 100% cut.

Hawaii Tourism Authority research shows that for every dollar spent on marketing, the state receives $14 in tax revenues. Based on this calculation, a $10 million cut to Hawaii's tourism marketing budget would translate into $140 million in lost tax receipts, or to put it another way, an increase in the state budget deficit of $140 million. Clearly, this not the direction Washington should be going.

Given the symmetry in the link between promotion spending and tax receipts, one could argue that a better budget strategy would be to increase public tourism promotion, particularly if Washington's competitors are cutting their marketing budgets.

[keopeli]

3. I think it's a mistake to conflate the tourism industry in different states

[AtheistCrusader]

4. Especially Hawaii...

[Bluesbreaker]

6. Huh?

There's no reason why multi-state data are not reliable. It's simple economics. Just look at the multiplier/ROI. Economics principles don't change depending on geography. I only post this because I've worked in travel and tourism and I know what's going to happen to Washington, my favorite state (UW grad!).

I'm really disappointed in the Democrats in Olympia, including the governor. They keep cutting education and social programs. They should be increasing taxes on the wealthy. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Washington State has one of the most regressive tax systems in the nation. Democrats should be passing a state income tax to shift the tax burden to wealthy.

[MurrayDelph]

5. I went to Washington today

I shopped for a birthday present for my wife (didn't find one), bought a donut, decided I didn't want Thai food for lunch (even though the Thai restaurant is very good), and came home.

Of course, I only live eight miles away from Washington, and most of that is the Columbia River.