Tourism plan ruffles few feathers

Throughout last year, the Utah Travel Council and the state's tourism industry were at odds with some groups in the state about the best way to fund tourism marketing.

This year, the factions apparently have come together on draft legislation they all can support.

A draft bill presented Wednesday to the Workforce Services and Community and Economic Development Interim Committee would use a two-pronged approach for funding that apparently ruffles few, if any, feathers.

"The tourism industry is behind the whole thing because it's not a tax," said Kip Pitou, co-chairman of the Utah Tourism Industry Coalition. "It's performance-based funding."

Less than $1 million is spent by the state on advertising to out-of-staters, and counties do some promotion through car-rental and restaurant taxes. Ski resorts and Ski Utah spend a total of $10 million to $12 million annually on promotion.

Two measures involving tourism, SB60 and SB208, died in the 2004 general session. SB208 died because the lodging and restaurant associations were against increased taxes that would have applied to their industries. SB60 polarized the tourism industry because it would have focused efforts on only four ski resorts.

"This (new draft) is a wholly different situation. . . . Our industry is behind it," Pitou said.

In addition to altering the membership of the council, also known as the Board of Travel Development, the bill would establish a base of $10 million for the tourism marketing performance fund. It would be phased out over 10 years. It also calls for setting aside a percentage of the increase in tourism-generated tax revenue to fund tourism promotion and creates and funds a cooperative program with cities, counties and nonprofit organizations to advertise and promote tourism.

The set-aside would be in years 2006 through 2015 and would be half of tourism-related sales and use tax revenue increases above a 3 percent increase. It would be capped at $3 million for any fiscal year.

Committee co-chairman Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, said he wants the draft to become a committee bill because that would strengthen its chances of passing.

"I think we have a chance of getting this passed," said Sen. Carlene Walker, R-Sandy. "Obviously, the $10 million may be a hang-up, but I think . . . we (she and Jenkins) both feel very strongly that this would be an investment, and as we look at research on the return on this, we have faith that this is going to be a good investment for the state."