More $$$ for tourism gets boost

A bill to boost Utah's tourism promotion advanced another step in the legislative process on Tuesday.

The Senate Workforce Services and Community and Economic Development Standing Committee passed out favorably SB7, a bill that would create a tourism marketing performance fund. The fund would receive $55 million in general fund money over a decade and ultimately would be self-supporting.

Approved by an interim committee in November, the measure would start with $10 million from the general fund, falling by $1 million annually, to help the state promote tourist destinations to out-of-staters. In addition to the general fund money, the bill also calls for setting aside a percentage of the increase in tourism-generated tax revenue in later years to fund tourism promotion — up to $3 million annually — and creates and funds a cooperative program with cities, counties and nonprofit organizations to advertise and promote tourism.

State government spends $900,000 annually on advertising to out-of-staters, although counties do some promotion through car-rental and restaurant taxes, and ski resorts and Ski Utah also spend several million dollars annually on promotion.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, said research indicates Utah will get a tax revenue return of at least $8.64 for every dollar spent from the fund, meaning more than $80 million in tax revenue.

"So, if we really get the return that we want, then $3 million into that account every year should be a slam dunk," he said.

"Well, that's substantial," Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Lehi, said of the $80 million figure. "If we're going to bring that much back into tax revenue, that's pretty substantial."

Jenkins said "tourism has bee sliding in the state for some time," but the Utah bill is modeled after Missouri legislation that has proven to be successful. Because the churn of tourism spending through the economy takes 18 to 24 months, Utah likely be able to gauge the bill's success soon.

"We have high hopes . . . that this will really help tourism in the state," Jenkins said. "Like I say, worst-case scenario is $8.64 return on our investment, and we think it will actually be higher than that right out of the chute. We've seen returns in the 15 percent range, and after 18 months we should know. We believe this fund will carry itself from here on out, and it will get stronger and better and it will provide a tremendous economic boost to the state."

David Harmer, former executive director of the Utah Department of Community and Economic Development, said the state funding for tourism promotion has been "totally inadequate."