Connecticut Launches

Summer Tourism Campaign

By Stephen Singer

Associated Press

HARTFORD — Governor Dannel P. Malloy kicked off a $2.6 million summer tourism campaign Monday, announcing a public-private partnership that will target high-income women who make their families’ vacation decisions.

Malloy, surrounded by tourism industry executives at the Connecticut Science Center in Hartford, said about $1 million contributed by tourism businesses, chambers of commerce, and other business groups will be combined with $1.6 million of public funds and support services for marketing and online advertising. The state budget that takes effect July 1 will make another $15 million available for a new push to draw tourists.

Malloy said state officials and tourism officials do not want to wait until July to start attracting the lucrative summer tourism business.

State officials and the industry say tourism in Connecticut generates $11.5 billion in spending, $1.15 billion in state and local tax revenue, and employs nearly 111,000 workers.

Malloy said Connecticut should aggressively promote its history, saying the state’s role in the Revolutionary War is as significant as that of Massachusetts.

Malloy made boosting tourism a plank in his platform during last year’s campaign. The Democrat criticized his Republican predecessor, Governor M. Jodi Rell, for slashing state funding for marketing. Last December, Discover New England removed Connecticut from its New England promotional map after the state did not pay the group’s annual $100,000 in dues.

On Monday, Malloy took another swipe at Rell, who urged Connecticut residents to spend money at home on “staycations.”

“This is more than staycations,” he said. “This is a redefinition of our state’s image.”

However, the governor declined to defend the hotel tax increase he negotiated with the legislature as part of the new budget that includes numerous tax increases and spending cuts to close a $3.5 billion deficit. Asked by a reporter if he had reservations about the tax, which will rise July 1 from 12 percent to 15 percent of room occupancy, he said no. He did not elaborate.