Tourism marketing an investment at state, local level

On June 29, Gov. Bill Walker used his veto pen for a wide range of projects and expenditures. Included in those vetoes was a reduction of the state tourism marketing budget from a proposed $4.5 million to $1.5 million. Proportionately, it was one of the larger cuts, yet the cut essentially does nothing to solve the state’s fiscal crisis, and in essence, limits the economic growth potential for the tourism industry.

If you knew Virginia’s state tourism budget was a shade over $20 million and Missouri’s was just a hair under $19 million, you’d probably guess Alaska’s tourism marketing budget was impressive, seeing how we’re a bucket list destination. But you’d be wrong. Three years ago, the state’s tourism marketing budget was $18.6 million, and not coincidentally, marketing efforts grew, which resulted in record visitation — and visitor spending — numbers the last few years as well. Those are visitors who are coming to Alaska, staying in local B&Bs or hotels, spending money in restaurants and activities, paying sales taxes in communities and then going home to tell their friends about what a great place Alaska is.

With a $1.5 million budget, it’s going to be harder than ever to get those visitors here in the first place. Why? Competition. In 2014-15, the average state tourism marketing budget was $18.1 million, according to the U.S. Travel Association. That’s an average – Florida and Hawaii top $80 million annually, while California and Illinois are around the $60 million mark. Alaska competes with these destinations for visitors, and with a drastically reduced budget, it’s going to be a challenge with Alaska at the bottom of the ladder.

Smaller communities like those in the Mat-Su Valley rely on state marketing programs in a big way. It is simply impossible for small destination marketing organizations to reach national and international audiences due to understandable budget constraints. But, we certainly can reach those people and generate awareness of our destination through participation in the state’s various cooperative marketing programs. With this drastic reduction, however, those programs simply will cease to exist, and with that, our opportunity to reach those audiences becomes more challenging.

In Alaska, local CVBs have great partnerships with one another, and support from their communities. We work together on a number of marketing programs, because we know that a visitor to Anchorage, for example, will probably spend time in the Mat-Su Valley before heading north, ultimately to Fairbanks. By working together, we can maximize the effectiveness of our marketing dollars for the economic benefit of our individual communities. A rising tide lifts all ships, in essence. Those efforts are important to everyone, not just tourism businesses — a U.S. Travel Association report on “The Power of Destination Marketing” revealed that every U.S. household would pay approximately $1,000 more in taxes without tax revenue generated in communities by the travel and tourism industry.

Locally, the Mat-Su CVB uses a highly targeted marketing plan to reach potential visitors a number of different ways. The CVB recently invested in a new website that has been well received by visitors and has increased requests for more information. In the coming weeks, a new e-mail marketing campaign will be launched that highlights our different communities, events and businesses. Our goal is to reach as many potential visitors as possible while being efficient with our budget.

Tourism marketing is an investment in the economic development of our communities and our state. Visitor spending has a positive impact on all of us, as that money circulates throughout the borough in the form of jobs, payroll and sales taxes and spending on goods and services.

Casey Ressler (casey@alaskavisit.com) is the marketing and communications manager at the Mat-Su Convention & Visitors Bureau. This column is the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman or its parent company, Wick Communications.