400,000 Tourism Jobs Depend on Tourism Promotion Marketing Dollars

Tourism Means Business in Pennsylvania. Tourism business depends on tourism marketing dollars. Targeting tourism marketing spending for additional cuts hurts Pennsylvania even more and will cost precious jobs Pennsylvanians can ill afford to lose right now. Worse, these cuts reduce the revenues this industry generates to fund so many badly-needed social and education programs across the Commonwealth.

If this proposal is allowed to stand, then numerous current and future tourism jobs across Pennsylvania will likely vanish – as well as related tax revenues – due to diminished visitor levels.

We urge Governor Corbett and the legislative leadership to keep tourism promotion funding for the 2011 – 2012 state budget at the same level as passed in the 2010-2011 budget:

$10.7 million for Tourism Promotion – Marketing

View Tourism Industry Frequently Asked Questions >

Tourism is critical to the economic well-being of Pennsylvania. Our tourism industry is a coalition of museums, wineries, golf courses, hotels, restaurants, attractions and many other tourism partners’ largely made up of small businesses. The State Tourism Office, county and regional-based destination marketing organizations (DMOs) and regional marketing partners work with over 100,000 local tourism and hospitality businesses to attract leisure and business travelers to Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania has such a wide array of tourism products, including heritage, arts and cultural components of our industry.

Pennsylvania has such a wide array of tourism products, including heritage, arts and cultural components of our industry. Arts and culture communities are a key partner in attracting and developing new businesses in Pennsylvania. Governor Corbett has recognized the importance of this segment of our industry throughout his campaign and we look forward to supporting arts & cultural heritage as a significant part of the tourism industry.

All of these partners support more than 433,000 Pennsylvanians employed in the Tourism industry.

The economic impact of visitor spending in Pennsylvania in 2009 was significant:

Total Visitor Spending was $31.1 billion

• Leisure Travers  -  $26 billion
• Business Travelers - $5 billion

Total Economic Impact - $32.9 billion

Total Jobs Supported - 433,000

• Total Direct Jobs  - 283,000

State & Local Tax Revenues - $3.4 billion

Additional statistics can be found at www.pajunto.com under the Research and Statistics tab.