Latest news with #D-Sprague
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
State leaders look to triple Connecticut's tourism marketing budget
Mystic — State officials and tourism leaders gathered Thursday at one of Connecticut's top attractions, Mystic Aquarium, to tout a bill that would triple the state's tourism marketing budget. The state spent $4.5 million on tourism marketing last fiscal year, about half of what was spent by New Hampshire, a state with about half of Connecticut's population. The bill aims to raise the marketing budget to more than $12 million with the whole package funded by the state's 1% extra tax on food and beverage sales, officials said. State Comptroller Sean Scanlon said the money is part of a proposed $55 million package to boost the state's tourism and hospitality industry. State Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, said investing in marketing is vital to Connecticut's economic health, as she promoted the bill during the meeting here of the Connecticut Tourism Coalition, Scanlon and other officials. This is a major investment," Scanlon said after the meeting. "The bill is all about investing in the tourism industry." Frank Burns, the coalition's executive director, said the 1% tax generates more than $100 million annually. Burns said the bill also aims to invest $5 million in arts and $5 million for culture. Koray Gurz, the aquarium chief financial officer and chief operating officer, said tourism spending yields $4 for every $1 invested. He pointed out that the aquarium attracts 800,000 visitors annually, more than half of those coming from out of state who spend money here. Scanlon's press release announcing the event said he would address the economic consequences of President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs, though he did not in his speech to the coalition. He said anything that makes goods and services more expensive is problematic. "It does have an impact on people's ability to spend money and support industries like tourism," Scanlon said of the tariffs. Scanlon told the coalition that with a budget surplus, a $4 billion rainy day fund and $10 billion less in pension debt than seven years ago, the state is positioned to invest for the first time in years. "Connecticut is now at an inflection point," Scanlon said, and the state needs to decide how it wants to navigate its "next chapter." "Some people don't consider tourism as important as it is," Osten said. "But it's a multibillion-dollar industry in the State of Connecticut." Osten said the state has "missed the mark" by not investing in tourism. She said the state has put aside little to no money to market how it will celebrate the country's upcoming 250th anniversary. Burns said the proposed bill puts $5 million to funding America 250 marketing. "We're a great state that has assets that need to be shown to people, and the only way to show them is we need to have marketing dollars, Osten said. According to the coalition, Connecticut's tourism industry generates $2.6 billion in annual tax revenue and employs 120,000 people while travelers spend $17 billion.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Osten backing economic study of area served by Mohegan-Pequot Bridge
State Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, has said she will continue to advocate for a bill calling for an economic study of the area surrounding the Mohegan-Pequot Bridge despite the public-hearing testimony of two state commissioners who suggested last week that a pending transportation study should come first. Daniel O'Keefe and Garrett Eucalitto, commissioners of the Departments of Economic and Community Development and Transportation, respectively, told the legislature's Transportation Committee that the DOT is embarking on a 'transportation corridor study' in the same geographic region described in Senate Bill 1081. 'DECD would encourage the committee to await the results of that (DOT) study to inform decision making around the Mohegan-Pequot Bridge capacity,' O'Keefe wrote in testimony filed in connection with the Feb. 10 public hearing. 'I'm not willing to stop the bill from moving forward,' Osten, a Transportation Committee member, said Monday. 'They're hiring consultants to look at economics and traffic projects. My intent is to still have that bill come out of committee to make sure it (an economic study) happens. ... Let's make sure it happens.' The bill's 10 co-sponsors include Osten and eight other members of the southeastern Connecticut delegation. It would require O'Keefe and Eucalitto to jointly conduct or commission an economic study of areas in Montville and Preston to determine whether the capacity of the Mohegan-Pequot Bridge adequately serves them. The proposed study would assess whether the bridge 'permits the convenient, safe and expeditious flow of traffic' to the areas and the extent to which the bridge's capacity will be affected by developments on the Mashantucket Pequot reservation and elsewhere. Great Wolf Lodge at Mashantucket, a $300 million indoor waterpark resort set to open in May adjacent to Foxwoods Resort Casino and the Mohegan Tribe's proposed Preston Riverwalk project are among those developments, as is an expansion of the Preston incinerator site. 'The area is a true asset, and it is imperative that we ensure that our infrastructure is sufficiently up to the task of dealing with the various projects and developments in the area,' Osten said in her public hearing testimony. Senate Bill 1081 also seeks an evaluation of the impact on the Mohegan-Pequot Bridge of oversized loads that could be prohibited from traversing the Gold Star Memorial Bridge between Groton and New London. Traffic could be similarly diverted in the event of a public safety incident that caused the DOT to shut down the Gold Star, according to the bill. Meanwhile, the DOT is planning to undertake a $32.8 million renovation of the Mohegan-Pequot Bridge. Local officials and residents have expressed opinions about the plan, with some saying the improvements to the bridge should include widening it from two to four lanes. Such an undertaking would be six to seven times costlier than repairs, according to estimates.
