|
|  |
|
|
Tourism Funding Victory: An Important First Step … Where to from Here?
By Steve Yencich, President of the Tourism Industry Coalition of Michigan (TICOM)
and President/CEO of the Michigan Hotel, Motel & Resort Association (MHM&RA)
 When the Senate originally proposed cutting Travel Michigan’s promotion budget to $4 million last April our industry was galvanized into action. And for good reason, that would have represented nearly a 45% reduction from the $7.4 million promotion budget TM had in 2002. It’s amazing what we can do when we’re sufficiently terrified.
The list of tourism organizations that were scared and/or cared enough to spring into action reads like alphabet soup. Hundreds of TICOM, MACVB, WMTA, ML2L, Circle Michigan, UPTRA, MHMRA and other industry groups urged their members to send emails, faxes, make phone calls and personally visit their legislators. First on the Senate side, and then in the House after the tourism season began, short-notice calls to action went out to lobby members of the Legislature.
And respond you did. Combined with the thousands of emails, faxes and phone calls, the 80 people that came to Lansing in April, combined with the nearly fifty people that showed up at the Capitol on June 12 turned the tide to our favor. Where there was once virtual certainty of additional cuts to an already lacerated Travel Michigan budget, we ended up winning reinstatement of the Governor’s original promotion budget recommendation of $5.7 million.
Taken in the context of promotion budgets of the past, and those of surrounding states, it was in fact, a relatively minor victory. It’s hard to get all puffed up about a budget that’s nearly 23% smaller than the budget we enjoyed just 2 years ago. It’s also difficult to do any real chest-thumping when states like Illinois and Wisconsin enjoy budgets hugely, to substantially larger than ours, even after suffering similar budget cuts.
Those realistically blunt statements aside; this was nonetheless, an incredibly important victory for our industry. It represented the first time in a very long while that our fragmented industry came together and acted as one. Cohesive, collective action is what makes the Michigan Manufacturing Association, State Chamber, Farm Bureau and MEA the potent lobbying forces they have grown to be.
It has been the absence of such cohesion that has prevented the Tourism industry from leaving a footprint on such critical issues. Providing we continue to work together, this small victory may well represent a historic turning point in our governmental advocacy efforts. So, where to from here?
In coming years, we must build upon the foundation that TICOM laid in 2003. We must continue to coordinate, cooperate and coalesce on issues of joint concern. We must never forget that our lack of legislative involvement is what led to the State of Michigan to drastically under fund promotion of this state’s second largest industry. Providing we remember those two lessons, we can only do better with each passing year. But what else can we do to better ensure our future success? I’m glad I asked…
1) We must not be satisfied with the status quo. $5.7 million is our baseline. From this point forward we must set the bar higher. It is imperative that we aim our sights not simply to return to where we once were, but to push for historic increases in state tourism funding. Anything less is simply not acceptable.
2) Those of us who wrote letters, emails and made phone calls and personal visits must resolve to do more of the same in coming years. Even more importantly, we must encourage, urge, cajole, and otherwise browbeat our friends who did not join the fray, to do so in the future.
3) We must strengthen the individual organizations that most effectively represent our industry. As people who are dependent on tourism outcomes, the time has come to make hard decisions on which organizations you support. Survey the number of associations you belong to. If they have not made enhancing Michigan tourism a top priority; if they were not actively involved in efforts to protect tourism promotion funds; if you see no mention of such issues in their publications—you need to drop them like a bad habit.
4) If you are not currently a member of an association that fought to protect your bottom line, you need to join one, now. We must start looking beyond the cost of supporting such organizations and begin looking at what it has cost our industry for failing to do so in the past. The bigger the army of members behind these organizations, the more effective our industry-wide efforts will be.
5) If the organization you belong to has a political action committee, you need to support it. If it doesn’t have a PAC program, you should encourage your leadership to explore creating one. To have an effective government affairs program you must have good lobbyists, solid grassroots support from members and a credible PAC program. We’ve got the first, have a toehold on the second, but sadly, the third for the most part—does not exist. It’s difficult, sometimes impossible to lobby a legislature somebody else helped elect. Until we make PACs a priority we will continue to fall well short of our objectives; and with all due respect, that’s not an opinion—that’s a fact.
Michigan is the preeminent destination in this region of the country. Economic and world events will continue to depress air travel for the foreseeable future, presenting a distinct opportunity for drive-to destinations such as Michigan. Only additional state funding for tourism promotion will allow us to optimize such opportunities. In the long run, there is no doubt that we can achieve such outcomes, but only if we continue to work TOGETHER.
|
|
|
