In Our View: Tourism — An Easy Sell
Because Washington state boasts many of America’s most beautiful natural treasures and a collective attitude that’s effusively hospitable, it could be argued that we don’t need a state tourism department.
We’re about to find out if that’s true.
As of Friday, Washington became the only state to close its official tourism agency and cut all state funding for self-promotion.
Not only will our wonderful state survive, we’re embarking on a whole new system of privately funded tourism promotion, and for taxpayers in an economic crisis, that could be a great conversion.
Make no mistake, tourism matters. Last year, out-of-staters dropped a cool $15.2 billion in our state, not too shabby as Americans struggle to escape the Great Recession. But we wonder how much of that huge amount would’ve been spent here even if the visitors had not been begged by a state-funded agency to come.
Still, many people might be concerned that we’re the only state to try cold-turkey defunding. Look at it from the perspective of Mike Hewitt, who served for years on the state tourism commission and is more popularly known as a Republican state senator from Walla Walla.
“When you’re taking kids off health care and raising tuition, you have to make some tough decisions,” he correctly noted recently.
And that’s why the $2 million that the state originally targeted for tourism-promotion expenses in the coming fiscal year has been eliminated. In previous years, the state had dedicated as much as $7 million to that office.
Again, though, visiting Washington state is something that doesn’t require a heavy sales pitch. Most rational people already know the innumerable benefits. And when statistics from other states are examined, eliminating state-funded tourism promotion is not all that shocking. California already does almost the same thing; the annual budget there for travel promotion is about $50 million, but only about $200,000 comes from the state. The rest comes from assessments paid by hotels, restaurants, rental car companies and other businesses related to tourism.
Hawaii — like Washington, an easy sell for tourism — is looking at shifting tourism-promotion money to social needs. New York cut travel advertising by 60 percent. In Arizona, the reduction is 40 percent.
Other states have taken the opposite approach. State-subsidized travel promotion is up considerably in Alaska, Louisiana and Michigan. No offense to Michiganders, but we wonder if that $25 million — including $11 million on a “Pure Michigan” campaign — could be better spent elsewhere.
Vancouver Washington Tourism - News
Kim Bennett, chief executive officer of the Vancouver Regional Tourism Office in Southwest Washington, was quoted in a recent Columbian story: “While we're disappointed the state tourism office is closing, we're also looking at the opportunity to
The group has raised more than $300000, said Kim Bennett, president and CEO of the Vancouver Regional Tourism Office in southwest Washington. She would like to see a minimum of $15 million. "We cannot continue to operate and be competitive with other
The Hilton Vancouver Washington, which dipped into room-tax reserves for the first time this winter to make its debt payment, has kept costs down well enough to fully cover its July bill, the city's chief financial officer said
Sunday marks the inaugural Vancouver USA Marathon, the centerpiece of a running-based weekend in downtown that will include short supplementary races, an expo at the Hilton Vancouver Washington, and food and beverage booths near the finish line in
Or give Washington a break and spend some time in the Evergreen State, on Dog Mountain or Siouxon Creek trails. Our neighbor to the north has formally cut off all state spending on tourism promotion, so we'll just have to spread the word among
Portland Fireworks Display Video and Time Lapse
Portland Fireworks Display Video and Time Lapse Published 07/05/2011
(Portland, Oregon) – Hundreds of thousands of people around the Portland metro area gathered to watch massive Fourth of July fireworks displays Monday night, from Vancouver, Washington to the outskirts of the area in satellite communities like Canby, Beaverton, Lake Oswego and Gresham.
Tens of thousands gawked at the fireworks display from the Waterfront Blues Festival, shot off from the river – though folks watched from vantage points along the east side of the Willamette and neighborhoods and local watering holes in even larger numbers.
From a slightly awkward viewpoint of the Hawthorne District, about 11th Street, the show was still impressive. OregonTravelDaily.com had staff lingering there and captured some striking time lapse photography of the show, in tandem with the traffic along the streets, as well as video of the scene.
Most interesting here is watching the half moon sink quickly in the time lapse portion of the video over a period of mere seconds – seen in the far right hand corner. The streaks of eastbound vehicles, the traffic lights and street lights create enough of a beautiful combination by themselves, but the subtle sight of that moon moving in the sky is especially engaging.
Vancouver Washington Tourism - Bookshelf
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