Travel and tourism in brief

Discover New England drops Conn.

More than six months after Connecticut ended funding for tourism, the Discover New England promotional group dropped the state from its website.

The Portsmouth, N.H.-based organization now lists the other five New England states, omitting Connecticut from a map of the region and from its list of tourism agencies, events and driving routes.

Gov. Dan Malloy has pledged to restore some tourism funding in the current legislative session. According to the Providence Journal, Discover New England charged Connecticut $100,000 annually to be part of the website. According to the U.S. Travel Association, at just under $1 million Connecticut had the second lowest tourism budget in the nation after Rhode Island.

Newport loses America”™s Cup bid

Newport lost out on its midnight bid to be the host of the America”™s Cup in 2013, with San Francisco Bay to be the setting for the 34th installment of the regatta.

It marks the first time since 1995 that the America”™s Cup has been hosted in the United States.

The America”™s Cup Event Authority reportedly had approached officials in Newport, R.I., after a gap opened in financial negotiations with San Francisco. Holding the regatta there would have provided a likely boost for the casinos in eastern Connecticut; while proving a draw for corporations in Fairfield County, which is home to a large number of offshore yachtsmen.

The competition is expected to generate an estimated $1.4 billion in economic impact.