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.

In Governor Rendell’s budget proposal for 2010-11 fiscal year, the Governor has proposed cutting state tourism promotion funding once again, to a level that’s 65% below FY 2008-09 (See chart below).

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 the Governor and legislators to keep tourism promotion funding for the 2010 – 2011 state budget at the same level as passed in the 2009-2010 budget:

$14.246 million for Tourism Promotion – Marketing

View Tourism Industry Frequently Asked Questions >

We are a workforce of 400,000 representing our hotels, amusement parks, restaurants, ski areas, stadiums, attractions and other tourism partners.

We are the state’s second-largest industry.

Each year Tourism generates $28 billion in revenue and $10.7 billion in wages and benefits.

Tourism accounts for nearly seven (7) percent of all individuals employed.

Tourism generates tax revenues for vital state needs. How?

The tourism industry does not compete with vital programs; it helps pay for them. In 2007, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania brought in $2.8 billion in tax revenue from tourist expenditures, helping the state support education and social welfare programs.

Tourism industry-related tax revenue could have also covered approximately 83% of the cost to provide medical assistance to Pennsylvania families!

The total state tax investment in tourism was $28 million in FY 2007-08.

This is equivalent to less than one percent of the total investment in basic education, higher education, and social welfare combined. Yet, conservative estimates suggest that every dollar of PA’s state tourism promotion funding produces an ROI of at least $25 in state and local tax revenues derived from tourism-related spending.