Tourism leaders eye 6th cent

Washington Hilton (although Marriott is the most significant operator of hotels in the City of Washington, including the JW Marriott, their Renaissance brand, which includes the Techworld Hotel and the Mayflower, the Wardman Park, and many others).

From the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, "Tourism leaders eye 6th cent: Hoteliers say money should go to marketing, not other projects" comes a textbook lesson about the competition over how to spend tourism tax monies. The hoteliers want the money spent on marketing hotels, because their occupancy rates are down. Others argue for building the base of arts and cultural attractions. From the article:

At stake is about $24 million -- a pot that many in the hospitality industry say should go entirely toward funding more aggressive marketing campaigns for Central Florida, not building civic facilities. Last week, Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty proposed raising the 5 percent tax and evenly dividing the additional proceeds between tourism and such public projects as a performing arts center.

In DC, the cultural-heritage community has already lost this battle. Most tourism tax monies go towards the Convention Center and the Washington Convention and Tourism Corporation, which markets DC to tourists. I think we could market DC a lot better than we do, starting with the website...

At some point, I intend to learn a lot more about is how this revenue stream is used.

Celebration of a New Partnership; The Historical Society of Washington, D.C. and the National Music Center at the Carnegie Library Building--City Museum. Mayor Williams was guest speaker. Mayor Anthony Williams leaves Museum after speaking. Washington Post photo.

The Baltimore Visitor Center opened in May 2004 next to the Light Street Pavilion. (Baltimore Sun photo by Algerina Perna) May 11, 2004

Index Keywords: tourism; cultural-heritage; growth-machine