Political Threats Force U.S. Tourism Boards to Examine Their Roles

Tourism marketing funding in at least seven U.S. states is in jeopardy of getting reduced or cut altogether as destination marketing organizations face calls from state legislators and constituents to become more transparent with spending. Visit Florida's debacle with Miami rapper Pitbull's $1 million contract with the state has rustled feathers throughout the destination marketing sector, led to the departure of three C-suite executives (including ex-CEO Will Seccombe who Skift spoke with earlier this month), and resulted in members of the Florida House of Representatives moving to eliminate the organization's funding. But Visit Florida -- one of the top-funded tourism boards in the U.S. -- is only the latest example of a state tourism organization fighting for its existence. Florida, Connecticut, and Massachusetts face tourism marketing budget cuts and Hawaii's state legislature proposed a bill last month to make the Hawaii Tourism Authority more transparent with how it spends public funding to promote the state. Colorado and Pennsylvania have seen steep tourism budget cuts while Washington State is weighing whether to bring back tourism promotion. Colorado, for example, saw visitation drop 30 percent after it eliminated funding for tourism promotion in the 1990s but has since reinstated its tourism budget. Pennsylvania's state tourism marketing budget decreased more than 77 percent between 2009 and 2015, dropping from $32.5 million to $7.3 million. With all the political discourse and debate over tourism marketing budgets one must wonder -- what is the role of a destination marketing organization in promoting tourism? Skift spoke to tourism boards across the U.S., including two in Florida, to get their perspectives on why their existence is necessary and how they're working to convince local legislators and taxpayers that the work they do directly benefits residents in destinations they represent. We used Visit Florida as the backdrop to our conversations as the organization's fight represents others playing out in state houses and city halls in the U.S. and abroad. The Role of Destination Marketing Organizations Detroit, Michigan established a convention and visitors bureau in the 1890s to help promote itself as a convention city and meeting point -- one of the earliest examples of a tourism marketing organization. Milton Carmichael, a reporter for the Detroit Journal, wrote in 1896, “During the past few years Detroit