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Tourism Marketing Pays for Itself9.28.2009
Tourism Marketing Pays for Itself
Editor, Times-Dispatch: The recent editorial, "Tourism Inc.," asks a good question: Should the commonwealth be involved in economic development -- in this case tourism and film marketing? To justify any government program we should ensure that it benefits the citizens broadly and cannot be done more effectively by a private organization. In the instance of tourism marketing and film incentives, the Virginia Tourism Corp. fills the bill, and very effectively.
Selling Virginia globally requires coordination and control of the message by the commonwealth. That's precisely why the Virginia Tourism Corp. requires substantial, competitive funding. There currently exists no private statewide tourism marketing effort in this country. As a matter of fact, in 1992, Colorado became the only state to eliminate funding for tourism promotion. The results were catastrophic. Within two years, Colorado's share of the U.S. tourism market dropped by more than 30 percent, and tourism spending dropped by almost $2 billion. The losers were not only the tourism industry, but Colorado taxpayers.
In film production, it often takes about 10 percent in up-front investment to secure productions. For the upcoming film about Secretariat, Virginia did not have the $30 million investment needed, so the movie about a Virginia horse will be filmed in Louisiana and that state will benefit from the $356 million economic impact.
Virginia operates in an extremely competitive environment, the U.S. Southeast. If The Times-Dispatch is going to criticize political candidates for supporting economic development, it does so at the risk of diminishing our market share and squandering our product. Rather, let's sell Virginia boldly and unabashedly.
Robin D. Carson,
Chair, Tourism Committee,
Virginia Chamber of Commerce.
Richmond.
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/opinion/letters/article/ED-CARSON28_20090927-170004/295864/
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