We need to draw Gov. Chris Gregoire a map. Of Washington. With popular landmarks such as Mount Rainier, the Space Needle and Walla Walla wine country clearly marked.
Gregoire has lost her way around her own state. Only she doesn’t know it. Clearly, she doesn’t read her own press releases or the quotes her PR people make up for her.
Two weeks ago, the state tourism office released its latest consultant’s report on the state of the tourism industry.
Guess what? Unbelievably, it grew last year. Tourism spending rose to $15.7 billion – a 5.7 percent increase over 2007. Meanwhile, the rest of the economy tanked.
What did Gregoire say about it?
“This report shows that the Washington travel industry will be an important contributor to our state’s economic turnaround,” read Gregoire’s quote in the press release. “I put a strong emphasis on the travel industry in my ‘Next Washington’ plan because it is one of our state’s economic drivers. I am pleased to see that our focus on tourism has led to another strong year for the industry in Washington.”
Yes, she did put a strong emphasis on the travel and tourism industry in her Next Washington plan, which she issued in January 2007, as a strategy to boost jobs and the state economy. But in her most recent proposed state budget, now under scrutiny by the Legislature, you won’t find any emphasis on tourism and travel.
In her 30-page Proposed 2009-2011 Budget & Policy Highlights, you won’t find the word “tourism” or “travel” mentioned. You will find her proposed closure of the Visitor Center at the Capitol as a way to save $1.7 million.
In the detailed proposed budget, the tourism promotion budget would have to get by with no additional funding.
Do you want an immediate economic stimulus package for Washington that doesn’t rely solely on federal tax dollars but inspires consumer spending to pump dollars into our economy?
Then we should aim more money at this state’s tourism industry.
President Barack Obama told states he would provide federal stimulus dollars for “shovel-ready” projects. Shovel ready? What’s more shovel-ready than our state’s tourism industry? Unless you’re talking about a trip to Long Beach to dig razor clams, you don’t even need a shovel.
You might wonder how tourism “will be an important contributor to our state’s economic turnaround,” as Gregoire contended in her press release quote.
We cash-strapped Washingtonians can’t afford to tan on the beaches of the Virgin Islands or hike the hill towns of the Italian Cinque Terre or snorkel the Molokini crater off the coast of Maui.
So we tell ourselves and our families that we’ll enjoy the amenities of our own state for the next year or two. We’ll kayak in the San Juan Islands this summer. We’ll sip wine during Spring Barrel tasting the weekend of April 24 in the Yakima Valley. We’ll soak in Sol Duc Hot Springs on the Olympic Peninsula when it opens for the season May 1. Or we’ll hit the Apple Blossom Festival in Wenatchee on May 2 and, on the way home, stop in Cashmere for a tour of Liberty Orchards’ Aplet & Cotlet factory.
The visitor numbers for Tacoma’s Museum of Glass confirm the vacation-at-home trend.
Last year, 178,361 people visited the Museum of Glass – 21,300 more than in 2007.
How could that happen in such a rough economic year?
“There was a significant change during the summer of 2008,” said Julie Pisto, director of marketing and communications.
Out-of-state visitors made up 58 percent of the visits in 2007 but just 43 percent in 2008. In-state visitors skyrocketed.
So while we find ourselves whipped by the economic hurricane, while we seek ways to vacation on the cheap, while our state needs an economic stimulus, we should invest our precious stockpile of stimulus dollars in things that provide the most substantial return on investment. Right?
Gregoire has proclaimed Monday as Tourism Day in Washington. An estimated 260 tourism industry professionals will gather at the Capitol. They will wear the uniforms of their trades – chefs, housekeepers, waiters, tour guides. They will meet with legislators. Gregoire will host a reception for them at her mansion.
The best way for the governor and legislative leaders to commemorate Tourism Day would be the announcement of a supplemental, job-creating stimulus package aimed at boosting tourism in Washington.
Dan Voelpel: 253-597-8785
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