A meeting of the Connecticut legislature's bipartisan Tourism Caucus will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Waterford Town Hall, allowing people in the tourism industry in southeastern Connecticut to air their ideas for state priorities.

Other hearings also will be held in Bridgeport and Waterbury.

State Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, who started the caucus, said the meeting will reflect on what’s happening in the world of tourism and talk about funding cuts and tourism district realignments, among other items.

"How do we basically make the best of this situation?" he said will be the major question. "This is going to be a listening tour."

Formica, in a phone conversation, noted that the state's fiscal situation is grim, but said he believes tourism needs support. 

"When business is slow the last thing you cut is advertising," he said. "We need to devote as much resoruces as we can to tourism."

— Lee Howard