Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JULY 28, 2025 5 POLITICS & POLICY Dwindling investment Dolch has high praise for Anthony, but much less for state legislators and the governor, whom he says have failed to see the benefits of investing in tourism. State funding for tourism marketing has fallen each year since it received a big boost in fiscal year 2022, he said. That year, the marketing budget was $12.1 million. The following year, it dipped to $11.7 million — but just $4.1 million of that was state funding, while the remaining $7.6 million was federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The next two years also saw ARPA funds supplement the state's marketing budget, but that federal money is gone and the budget for fiscal 2026 is just $4.5 million. "For every dollar that the state invests in tourism, at a minimum, it has a $3 return," Dolch said. "It can be as high as $8 in certain situations." He continued, "As I tell the governor and legislators, there's not another program that you guys invest money in that has really any return. This has a $3 return, and you're going to go now from $12 million down to $4.5 million?" Dolch said he is especially concerned because not only is that significantly less than previous years, it's well below spending by neighboring states. Massachusetts budgets $20 million, while Rhode Island spends $14 million, Dolch said. The Rhode Island budget really stings, he added, because Connecticut has nearly 9,100 restaurants, while Rhode Island has about 500. "We are ranked 23rd in the country" in the number of restaurants, he said. "So, even though our state is small by geographic size, the amount of businesses that we have is right in the middle." Yet, the tourism investment doesn't reflect that, he said. Tourism is a significant part of Connecticut's economy, contributing $18.5 billion in total economic impact in 2023, according to an analysis from Tourism Economics. That repre- sented about 5% of Connecticut's overall gross domestic product. Dolch argues the state has the money to better support that economic engine. He noted that in 2018 the state legislature created a 1% meals and beverage tax that has raised $415 million over the last five-and-a-half years. Dolch has lobbied the General Assembly to allocate a portion of those funds for tourism promotion, but legislators have been unwilling to date. "Unfortunately, we're gonna get left behind by other states, and that's what I don't want to see," Dolch said. Sen. Cathy Osten (D-Sprague), who co-chairs the legislature's Appro- priations Committee, said legislators in the 2025 session believed there were too many competing priorities with the state budget spending cap to spend more on tourism marketing. She added that, in general, neither legislators nor the executive branch understand the value of tourism marketing and the potentially substantial return on investment. Positive step Regardless, Dolch said he remains impressed with Anthony's unique efforts to make the most of the marketing budget he has to work with. He cited the recent campaign promoting Connecticut as the "pizza capital of the U.S.," which went viral after national news organizations like the New York Times reported on it. "That whole campaign that Anthony put together was really on a shoe- string," Dolch said. And, despite the complaints about the amount of funding budgeted for tourism marketing, some say the state law allowing sales of branded merchandise and experiences is a positive step. "It's not going to raise a lot of money, but that's not the real motive, at least as I understand it," said Tony Sheridan, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut. "The real motive, or at least the complementary motive, is to brand the state. Every company out there today is constantly looking for ways of branding their product or their business, and the state of Connecticut should be doing that." Get your tickets today! osv.org/CowParade Cathy Osten 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 STATE FUNDS FEDERAL FUNDS TOURISM FUNDING IN CT TOTAL FUNDS 3M 6M 9M 12M 15M 0 Source: State of Connecticut $4.1M $4.28M $4.28M $12.15M $11.75M $9.28M $7.6M

• Cover