Gov. boosting tourism

Martinez touts NM outdoor activities

Gov. Susana Martinez in a Tuesday lunchtime talk before the New Mexico Hospitality Association touted her administration’s commitment to boosting tourism.

Gov. Susana Martinez says that since she has been New Mexico’s governor she has reacquainted herself with skiing and given kayaking a try. Next up: zip lining.

“I did not know that our state had a zip line. ... That’s my next project,” the governor told a lunch crowd Tuesday at a meeting of the New Mexico Hospitality Association in Santa Fe.

Martinez recounted how she took up skiing again — after a 30-year lapse — during her first year in office, complete with a spill on the slopes.

For her foray into kayaking, she recounted being persuaded to “get into this very odd thing” and then be fastened in with a rubber skirt.

“It was amazing. ... It was wonderful. I never once went upside down,” she said.

“Those are the experiences we want people to have when they come to New Mexico,” Martinez told representatives of the tourism, lodging, restaurant and recreation sectors from around the state.

The governor touted her administration’s commitment to boosting tourism, including adding $1.25 million to the Tourism Depart- ment’s advertising budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

That brought the department’s total budget for the year to nearly $13.6 million, of which $9.3 million is earmarked for advertising, according to tourism officials.

Martinez said tourism has grown, with a 24 percent jump in visitor spending since 2010 and a record 32 million visitors to the state in 2013.

Early indications are that 2015 will be a good year as well, she said.

“By simply showing a true picture of New Mexico, we’re able to reel people in from all over the world, so they can experience it for themselves,” she said.

The governor also announced that the Tourism Department’s New Mexico Clean and Beautiful program will get an additional $100,000 in the year beginning July 1 — for a total of $700,000 — for grant awards to communities for beautification efforts.

If the governor decides to go zip lining — which she acknowledged “might be a little scary” — she will have at least three sites to choose from. The state’s first zip line debuted in 2012 at Angel Fire Resort. Since then, zip lines have opened at Ski Apache near Ruidoso and at Red River Ski Area.