Eastern Connecticut is using $275,000 in funds raised by local tourism businesses to market the region this summer, along with $150,000 in state funding.

The planning starts this week for summer media buys that will deploy electronic media in northern New Jersey, Long Island and Westchester County, N.Y., along with radio advertising there and in areas west of Boston, said Eastern Regional Tourism District Executive Director Ed Dombroskas.

Up to $90,000 in additional pledges is targeted for the fall season, he said.

Tourism businesses that belong to the district and its newly minted division, the Greater Mystic Visitors Bureau, have diverted money for overhead costs from the former Mystic Coast and Country Travel Association to a dedicated marketing fund, said George Galinsky, one of three chairmen for the bureau's marketing committee.

Adding private money in marketing to the $150,000 provided by the state "is the unique story for this region," said Dombroskas. "There's no place else in the state (where) this is happening."

The statewide marketing fund was slashed in the past budget session to $1, but this year, the Eastern district has $150,000 to spend on marketing, after operational expenses are covered, Dombroskas said. In contrast, last summer, with no budget in place, the district was closed all season.

"We know that people's planning window has become shorter and shorter over the past few years, so even though we're late getting into the market, we believe we'll be able to catch up and surpass last year, when we had no marketing," Dombroskas said.

The district is looking to make up for lost time and carefully apply this new revenue stream, he added.

Galinsky, who is also vice president of advertising, public relations and internet marketing for the Mohegan Sun, said the rationale is simple: to turn online and other inquiries into actual visitors.

"We see Mystic as the tourism brand in Connecticut, the most recognizable tourist destination, and people in this region get that," Galinsky said. "We understand the economic development and pride that brings to the region. I think (the marketing) will pay off because we've taken the time now to create an exciting, dynamic and easy-to-use web site that could convert inquiries into visitors."

Mystic.org was launched earlier this month, blending it with the best attributes of the old Mystic Country website.

Money also will be spent on a combination of traditional and new media, from brochures to search engine optimization, Galinsky and Dombroskas said.

Dombroskas noted that this year the district has already received 2,000 inquiries from a freestanding newspaper insert distributed in Connecticut and beyond. That pace seems to be ahead of last year, when the region only got 5,000 inquiries for the whole season, he said

"We're ahead in terms of people asking for information," he said.