Governor says state tourism on verge of banner year
Mystic — With a winter of discontent well behind them, state and local tourism officials Wednesday touted a summerlong turnaround in their fortunes.
Six months after proposing the elimination of state funding for regional tourism districts as well as a slew of Connecticut attractions, including Mystic Aquarium, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced during a visit to the aquarium that attractions around the state were on the verge of a banner season.
Attendance at nearly two dozen venues surveyed by state officials was up 5 percent over 2014 totals, the governor reported, despite the nasty winter that hurt business earlier in the year.
With Stephen Coan, the aquarium’s top executive, standing nearby, Malloy told a media gathering that the aquarium’s 2015 attendance was “down substantially” heading into the spring but that it has since “caught up.”
Malloy said the average spend per visit was up 4.4 percent, while hotel occupancy rates were up by more than 5 percent statewide.
In southeastern Connecticut, he said, the rate was up 9 percent.
“All of this will be audited and verified and included in a year-end report,” he said.
Ed Dombroskas, executive director of the Eastern Regional Tourism District, one of three districts that survived the state budget process when lawmakers restored tourism funding in the spring, vouched for the governor’s assessment.
“Clearly, we had a bad winter,” he said. “But this summer, the weather has been tremendous for tourism. Last year, we had a good year; this year has been better.”
The upcoming Labor Day Weekend marks a transition to fall, which can make or break the tourism year.
“If we can maintain it through the foliage season and to the end of the year, it will be one terrific season,” Dombroskas said.
It could even approach 2007, the pre-Great Recession year in which eastern Connecticut tourism peaked, he said.
Coan led Malloy on a 20-minute tour of the aquarium’s Animal Rescue Clinic and its Arctic Coast and Pacific Northwest exhibits.
The governor spoke with staff engaged in animal research and passed up an opportunity to pet a 1,300-pound beluga whale.
At no point did he bring up his spending proposal last February that called for eliminating $589,000 in funding for the aquarium, about 90 percent of which was ultimately restored.
“This attraction has 700,000 visitors (annually) and we’re going to push that to 800,000 in coming years,” he said.
Under Malloy, the state is in the fourth full year of a renewed commitment to funding tourism promotion.
The vast majority of this year’s $11 million budget will support a campaign that targets Boston, New York and Philadelphia.
The governor said he wished the amount of the funding could be more.
“Advertising is the most important thing we can do,” he said. “That’s not to say there’s not a role for regional districts to play.”
Dombroskas said the governor has long favored a centralized approach to tourism promotion.
“We’re fortunate to have two attractions in our region — the aquarium and Mystic Seaport — that can benefit from a statewide campaign,” Dombroskas said. “But we have hundreds of smaller operators who don't have the means to promote themselves. That’s what we do.”
b.hallenbeck@theday.com
Twitter: @bjhallenbeck
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