Tourism groups renew their pursuit of hotel tax revenue
Southeastern Connecticut tourism advocates are again urging state lawmakers to fund tourism promotion with a portion of the revenue generated by Connecticut’s 15 percent tax on hotel room charges.
A similar effort fell short a year ago.
Leaders of several groups testified in favor of a bill calling for the establishment of “a tourism promotion, jobs and revenue account” that the commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development would use “to market the state for tourism purposes, encourage job growth in the tourism industry and support the tourism industry as a whole.”
House Bill No. 6744, introduced by Rep. Kevin Ryan, a Montville Democrat, would fund the account with “a portion of the occupancy tax collected on hotels and lodging houses.”
Those collections amounted to more than $119.7 million in the 2016 fiscal year, according to the Connecticut Lodging Association, a supporter of the bill. The collections were up nearly 3 percent over the previous year.
Stephen Tagliatela, president of the Connecticut Tourism Coalition and managing member of the Saybrook Point Inn, Marina & Spa in Old Saybrook, told members of the legislature’s Commerce Committee that the bill doesn’t go far enough. He urged that it be amended to stipulate that the revenue generated by 3 percent of the occupancy tax be dedicated to a tourism account.
In fiscal 2016, such a percentage would have generated nearly $24 million.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget proposal for the next two fiscal years includes $8.3 million each year for statewide tourism marketing, a 2.9 percent increase over the $6.4 million made available in the current fiscal year. The governor’s proposal contains no funding for the state’s three regional tourism districts, which were defunded June 30.
“While this current administration has done a fine job increasing the tourism funding in the current proposed budget ... it’s still not enough,” Tagliatela said, “especially when you see what our competition is doing.”
New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island dramatically have increased tourism spending, he said.
Tony Sheridan, president and chief executive officer of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut, also backed No. 6744. Speaking as chairman of the fledgling Greater Mystic Marketing Committee, a group made up of tourism industry leaders and marketing specialists from the region, Sheridan asked the Commerce Committee to reject a separate bill, No. 6756, which would direct a portion of the occupancy tax revenue to the tourism districts.
“The challenge for all of us, both in the public and private sector, is to spend our scarce resources wisely, where it has the greatest impact,” Sheridan said. “Therefore, to the degree possible, the available financial support should be directed to advertising outside the state and not on administrative, bureaucratic overhead.”
Ed Dombroskas, executive director of the Eastern Regional Tourism District, one of the three districts without funding, testified in support of both bills.
“Indeed, we have some large and well-recognized attractions and while they benefit from a statewide effort, they largely support themselves with marketing and public relations staff,” he said. “It is the smaller entities that benefit greatly from the regional tourism efforts that reach out to and represent all tourism constituents and maintain successful and measurable programs.”
Tim Sullivan, deputy commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development, said his department has not taken a position on any bills that deal with tourism funding.
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