Tourism’s push to stay afloat
Even as Connecticut considers giving municipalities the power to tax hotel bills of visiting tourists, a recent study shows that the recession may have taxed tourist venues less than originally feared in the dark days of 2009.
Possibly in part to the state”™s “Staycation” campaign encouraging families to save money by booking vacations within Connecticut”™s borders, through the first nine months of 2009 major attractions drew 14,400 more visitors than they did in the same period in 2008, according to the Department of Economic and Community Development.
Outsiders contributed as well, however ”“ Massachusetts visitors alone increased their spending at the casinos in eastern Connecticut 3 percent, according to a new study by the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, and NBC Universal”™s new Stamford Media Center talk shows have brought a steady stream of visitors to the city from New York.
Despite the surprising figures, a number of tourism officials testified in Hartford this winter to protest cuts in state support, with the Fairfield County Convention & Visitor”™s Bureau among the casualties after its Norwalk office was slated for closure.
As Jennifer Herring, president of Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk points out, it takes more than ticket sales to keep some of the state”™s top tourist attractions operating.
“This was the worst fundraising season on the private side that I”™ve ever seen in my 30 years of fundraising due to the economy,” Herring said. “Consumers are changing their habits ”¦ When they do come, they”™re choosing to buy the admission ticket, but not the membership and not the Imax (movie) and not the additional enrichment of the experience. So every single way that we get revenue is under stress.”
Maritime Aquarium and its counterpart Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration have continued to advertise heavily throughout the recession.
“Connecticut is now 50th in the nation in terms of the amount that it spends on advertising the state as a destination,” said Steve Coan, president of Mystic Aquarium. “We are the hook right now ”“Â and the only hook, the only means, really ”“ of bringing people into the state in a concerted way. We are investing very heavily and we”™re about the only ones doing it, in attracting people to the state of Connecticut.”
Still, there are some indications of a recovery for 2011, according to Rute Pinho, an analyst in the Connecticut Office of Legislative Research, in a January report assessing the impact of the recession on tourism.
If hotels rely on outside visitors, for now it appears that the state”™s most important audience is its own populace.
“One of the issues on this is what we call ”˜recapture,”™” said Fred Carstensen, director of the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis at the University of Connecticut. “It is an improvement to our economy here in Connecticut if we get people to stay here in Connecticut, instead of going to Massachusetts for their day trip. And, that”™s one of the things that we were trying to capture ”¦ Do people in Connecticut know about the resources that are in Connecticut? And the answer turns out to be often they don”™t know very much, and they”™re often going to other states to enjoy the very things that they could enjoy here.”