Mystic — Faced with cuts to the Eastern Connecticut Tourism District budget as well as to statewide tourism spending, people involved in the travel and leisure business gathered Friday at the Mystic Hilton for a Tourism Marketing Boot Camp that included a question about how to stabilize state support for the industry.

The question, posed by Stonington First Selectman Rob Simmons to a panel of tourism experts during a morning session, related to the dwindling away of state tourism marketing dollars that at the beginning of Gov. Dannel Malloy's administration had been targeted at $15 million a year but has slowly sunk to about $6.5 million.

Randy Fiveash, a panel member who directs of the state Office of Tourism, said his office will release within weeks results of a 2015 economic impact study related to the travel and tourism business. But in 2013, it was found that the industry helped sustain 118,500 jobs and created $1.6 billion in tax revenues in Connecticut.

"What hasn't happened in the past is we haven't made the point ... that we are a revenue producer and not a debit," Fiveash said. "If we can get every legislator to at least acknowledge that, then I think we are ahead of the game."

State Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, said he is in the process of building a tourism caucus intended to recognize and support the importance of the industry. He urged tourism officials to contact their legislators and to support lawmakers who are pro-tourism and pro-business.

"We hope to raise awareness for tourism," he said. "It is probably the largest dollar multiplier we have in the state in terms of revenues."

Tony Sheridan, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut, praised Formica's new caucus.

"It's one of the first statewide efforts to bring all of the parties together," he said.

Sheridan added that chambers have always been very involved in tourism because most, if not all, of the local hotels are members, as are many restaurants.

He said it came as a surprise when chambers statewide learned July 1 that all the tourism districts in the state were defunded. A group of the larger chambers statewide currently is negotiating with Malloy over the defunding, he said.

Ed Dombroskas, executive director of the Eastern Connecticut Tourism District that markets Mystic Country, said the defunding has meant cutbacks, but his group is continuing some activities using private funding. His group continues to do social media postings, distribute information for calendars and events and represents Mystic Country at trade shows, he said.

The boot camp, hosted by the chamber and Miranda Creative, included several breakout sessions. In one workshop, titled "Tradigital Marketing — a Perfect Marriage," Laura Capshaw of CTM Media Group, noted that traditional marketing techniques such as brochures, maps, travel guides, newspapers and magazines can be effective marketing tools when paired with digital content.

"You want to reach people when they're making their decisions," she said.

Many of the initial decisions to visit an attraction occur because of content in traditional marketing campaigns, she said. But those are hard to track because many of the final decisions are made online as people search for more information and the best prices.

"You have to stay in front of them with your name because it's competitive," Capshaw said. "That's a hard thing to do if you're just using digital because it's fleeting."

Capshaw compared "push" and "pull" advertising, noting that push ads like those on television, radio and in pop-up internet ads are those you are not seeking out, while pull ads are ones that are being sought out, such as in newspapers and on brochures. These are the ones most likely to bring a response, she said.

She cited statistics showing that 79 percent of people look on the internet in anticipation of traveling, while 53 percent look at brochures. Once at a destination, the numbers skew differently, she said, with 69 percent looking at brochures and 68 percent using the internet.

"It's just like signs on the highway," she said of traditional and digital media. "They work together."

l.howard@theday.com