A fascinating discussion has developed around tourism and it’s funding. It was all started with a proposal in a Brookings Institution study for GrowSmart Maine that suggested that a fund be developed to purchase more public land by increasing the tax on lodging to 10%.
Of course the industry is opposed given that we have experienced several years of flat or no growth. With some areas actually seeing a decline in tourism there is little sentiment for a price increase that benefits government. Not to mention there is little guarantee that the money will go where it is intended. Thinking that is not unfounded, just look at what was planned for the conservation license plate money in a recent budget.
Vaughn Stinson as the Executive Director of the Maine Tourism Association made the case that in fact the state should be spending more on marketing and not taxing tourism more. Here is an article in the Kennebec Journal from last Friday.
Two editorials then followed this weekend both looking at the possibility of increasing funding and support of the industry. In the Bangor Daily News and the Maine Sunday Telegram.
I see a couple of issues with significantly increasing the funding first there needs to be some accountability for the current spending. We did just significantly increase tourism spending by dedicating an extra amount of sales tax to the effort and have seen flat growth. What are we missing? Or doing wrong? Given these lackluster results maybe advertising is delivering diminishing returns. Second some real effort needs to be devoted to developing the outdoor sector that seems to be steadily mentioned as an area for growth. I see many businesses that could grow with a liltte real support and help.
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