The Commerce Committee is trying to support Connecticut’s tourism industry in an uncertain time.
At its meeting on March 13, the Committee voted to add SB1456, An Act Dedicating A portion of the Meals Tax Revenue to Arts, Culture and Tourism, to its consent calendar.
If the proposed bill is enacted as it is currently written, it would take 10% of the existing meal tax and deposit it into the Tourism Fund.
“There are numerous arts and culture tourism venues and agencies that have been totally defunded, flat funded, and the like,” Committee Co-Chair Sen. Joan Hartley (D-Waterbury, Middlebury, Naugatuck) said at the meeting.
For years, the Connecticut Arts Alliance has claimed the state is underfunding tourism marketing, as well as arts and culture programs. This year, Gov. Ned Lamont proposed a $2 million cut to tourism budgets, which could impact the Mystic Aquarium and the New Haven Festival of Arts and Ideas, among other tourist attractions in the state.
Hartley contrasted these budget shortfalls to the robust funding for tourist and cultural attractions in neighboring states. She says that this makes it even harder for Connecticut venues to compete regionally.
“This is just one of those measures we’re putting forward which is trying to increase some of the resources available to our tourism industry,” Committee Co-Chair Rep. Stephen Meskers (D-Greenwich) said. “It impacts people that go out and use those venues. And normally… what do they do, they either go out for dinner before or after those venues and that provides us with a revenue stream.”
In 2023, visitors to Connecticut spent $11 billion, according to a presentation from Tourism Economics, which was prepared for the Connecticut Tourism Office. On top of that, the industry generated $1.2 billion in state and local taxes and sustained more than 120,000 jobs in the state. Tourism Economics estimates that the total economic impact of tourism that year was $18.5 billion.
“I’m glad that this committee is raising this,” Sen. Heather Somers (R-Groton, Plainfield, Stonington) said about SB1456. “We need to find a way to better fund our tourism sector… it is the one area that when we invest, we have a phenomenal return on investment within the next year and I fully support this bill.”
The Connecticut Department of Economic Development (DECD) recently asked the Commerce Committee for permission to sell Connecticut-branded merchandise and advertising space on the state’s tourism website, CTvisit.com, to generate money for the Tourism Fund.
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