In a state as pretty as Connecticut and a region with as much to offer as the one sometimes known as Mystic Coast and Country, the business of promoting tourism shouldn't require a revolution.

Overthrowing one system for another is how Connecticut has managed, or mismanaged, the promotion of its many attractions for decades. Eleven regional tourism districts, or 6 or three? Public-private partnerships? The $15 million "Connecticut: Still Revolutionary" campaign cut off in the prime spring marketing months and then funded at less than half-strength for this fiscal year. There was even a point under Gov. M. Jodi Rell where the tourism budget stood at $1, perhaps under the notion that people know where Mystic is anyway, and the heck with everyplace else.

If it spent that $1, the state must have made $3, because triple the investment is the conservative estimate of the return in promoting tourism. Multiplied by a million or many millions, it would make a nice contribution to the state's lagging revenues.

The Malloy administration, in its wisdom or perhaps its budgetary panic, instead closed highway welcome centers and many state camping areas, as well as the castle part of Gillette Castle State Park, where the woman who runs a snack bar reportedly has been getting an earful all summer from people unable to go inside the famed house. The state defunded its three regional tourism districts as of July 1, the start of the heaviest tourist season, and stopped providing maps.

How ironic that the administration worries about loss of casino business to neighboring states and yet ignores the loss of out-of-state visitor dollars while Massachusetts and New York promote tourism heavily and successfully.

So it was good news this week that the General Assembly's start-up Tourism Caucus is holding meetings in each of the three regional tourism districts that are evaporating with the loss of state funding. The caucus hosted its first meeting Wednesday at Waterford Town Hall. State Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, chaired the meeting attended by five Republicans and one Democrat from the region's legislative delegation. Meetings will follow in Bridgeport and New Britain.

Present were representatives of local attractions — some reporting fewer referrals of visitors since the change this spring to a statewide website; the dismissed Eastern Regional Tourism District — which has been stretching resources and donations to stay alive; the economic agency SECtR, soon to release an analysis that is expected to show tourism's strong labor and gross product numbers; the Greater Mystic Visitors Bureau, poised to partner with the state and metropolitan Chambers of Commerce to fill in gaps from the regional districts' termination; and the state Department of Economic Development, which oversees the $14 billion tourism industry.

The legislators heard every one of those stakeholders speak feelingly of unrealized potential in spite of wonderful attractions and their own hard work. Lawmakers emphasized they are collecting this information with an eye toward the funding of tourism in the next budget. It was clear that they were hearing some of the administration's slow-moving plans for the first time.

The biggest change, currently getting its final approvals from the various metro chambers, will be the public-private partnership that Deputy Commissioner Tim Sullivan said will "sink or swim" depending on how effectively the regional groups do their promotional work, including social media outreach. The GMVB board is expected to vote Friday.

The partnership faces built-in issues, including the possibility of uneven participation or internal competition as well as the state's pattern of constantly changing its approach. The regional districts, defunded but still legally in existence, sense that there may yet be a role for them if they can stay alive till the next budget.

In the end, it's a not a question of the product — beautiful, interesting, accessible Connecticut — or the value — a growing job sector and a strong player in the economy. It's not revolution that's needed. It's investment and intelligent leadership. The legislature is in a position to provide those, and the DECD has to recognize it needs that direction.