Blue Ribbon tourism panel planned by House speaker
Middletown — House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz announced plans Tuesday to form a special advisory panel to recommend legislation aimed at ensuring a robust tourism industry in the state.
Reacting to Connecticut’s problems promoting itself, Aresimowicz, a Berlin Democrat expected to win re-election next month, said the state needs to develop a cohesive message and allocate money to marketing efforts “in a smart way.” He stressed that the “Speaker’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Tourism” will solicit input from the public, businesses and institutions before directly reporting to lawmakers.
“I’ve been hearing ‘Come to Michigan,’ ‘Come to New Jersey,’ but not ‘Come to Connecticut,’” Aresimowicz said at a press conference at the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce offices.
His announcement came on the heels of his original election opponent’s withdrawal from the 30th House District race.
A replacement candidate, Republican Michael Gagliardi of Berlin, filed with the Office of the Secretary of the State before the end of business Tuesday, the deadline for inclusion on the Nov. 6 Election Day ballots, according to Gabe Rosenberg, the office’s communications director.
The original GOP candidate, Steven Baleshiski, dropped out of the race last week amid controversy over his online comments critical of survivors
of the Parkland High School shooting in Florida. Reportedly, Republican town committees in both of the district’s towns, Berlin and Southington, had withdrawn their endorsements of Baleshiski.
If Aresimowicz is re-elected and Democrats hold onto a majority of House seats, Aresimowicz would be expected to seek another term as speaker.
Ed Dombroskas, executive director of the dormant Eastern Regional Tourism District, was among the tourism operators and officials from around the state who attended Tuesday’s press conference. Addressing the audience, he said the state’s approach to tourism promotion needs to change and that it was important for lawmakers to hear from people throughout the industry.
The membership of the new panel is to include representatives of convention and event planners, campgrounds, transportation, lodging, parks, cultural organizations, agritourism, marine trades and retail outlets.
Dombroskas, former executive director of the Connecticut Office of Tourism, opposed a bill last year that would have eliminated the state’s three regional tourism districts, which were authorized by state statute more than a decade ago. They have not been funded since the 2016 fiscal year.
“That proposal to eliminate the regional districts is what got this whole thing going,” Dombroskas said of the plan to form a special panel. “The problem is that that legislation eliminated the districts without putting anything in their place.”
Tourism operators like Jeff Muthersbaugh, an innkeeper who runs the Nehemiah Brainerd House in Haddam, have decried the decline in the state’s funding of tourism promotion in recent years. He said the state hotel room occupancy tax generated $119 million in revenue in the last fiscal year, while only $4 million was allocated for statewide marketing efforts.
He credited Aresimowicz with helping pass legislation reducing the room tax that operators of bed-and-breakfasts face from 15 to 11 percent.
Pieter Roos, executive director of the Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, said statewide tourism promotion benefits small businesses as well as big businesses. He said tourism generates spending by out-of-state visitors who would otherwise bypass Connecticut.
“We’ve seen our visitation drop,” Roos said.
Chuck Bunnell, chief of staff of the Mohegan Tribe, which owns Mohegan Sun, also spoke at the press conference. He said southeastern Connecticut’s self-promoting casinos, “the 800-pound gorilla in the room,” would welcome representation on the new panel.
“What we want to do is get a winning team together,” said Larry McHugh, the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce president.