Tourism advocates push to keep funding, welcome center

Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010

ANNAPOLIS — Hospitality industry advocates are pleading with state lawmakers to resist a proposed funding reduction to the Maryland Tourism Development Board, which helps support local marketing initiatives.

More than a dozen representatives from Southern Maryland traveled to Annapolis recently to speak with their local legislators and hear from government and industry leaders about the future of tourism.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's fiscal 2011 proposed budget includes $5 million for the Maryland Tourism Development Board, which is $1 million less than mandated by the law that established the board's funding guidelines in 1993.

Additionally, O'Malley's spending plan includes $3.7 million for the state tourism office, a nearly $500,000 cut from the current fiscal year.

"Unfortunately, tourism is one of those areas when you're looking to cut — and we are — that is going to feel a lot of pressure," said Del. John Bohanan (D-St. Mary's), who chairs the House subcommittee that oversees the state tourism budget.

But hospitality representatives said cutting tourism is not the answer and will only deplete the state's tax revenues.

Specifically, they called on legislators to stop the proposed closure of the Crain Memorial Welcome Center on Route 301 in Newburg.

It's especially important for tourism in Calvert and St. Mary's counties because the employees who work there inform visitors about attractions in their counties that require them to turn off Route 301.

"It is even more important to Calvert and St. Mary's that we don't lose that gateway access and lose those travel ambassadors who guide travelers to Calvert and St. Mary's counties," said Beverly Brown, director of sales for Hampton Inn Lexington Park and chairwoman of the St. Mary's Chamber of Commerce's Tourism Advisory Council.

The Route 301 welcome center, along with one on the Eastern Shore, is slated to go dark on June 30. The closures, which would bring to eight the number of welcome centers that have been defunded, are a result of state budget cuts. The facility would remain open as a highway rest stop, but the one full-time and two part-time "travel counselors" who direct visitors to local businesses will lose their jobs.

The move, which the Charles County commissioners are also resisting, would save the state approximately $95,000 annually, according to a state business and economic development spokeswoman.

St. Mary's County can't afford to lose such an important tourism asset, Brown said, especially because it lacks the major destinations in Charles or Calvert counties that helps generate admissions and amusement tax revenues. In fiscal 2009, St. Mary's received just more than $100,000, compared to about $615,000 in Calvert and $952,000 in Charles. "That, to me, is an alarming statistic that we are lacking a major attraction," she said.

The county's biggest tourist draws, Brown said, are either nonprofit institutions, such as Sotterley Plantation, or state-owned facilities, such as Historic St. Mary's City.

MDE axes fees for aquaculture

The state environment department has scrapped permit application and impact fees for commercial oyster aquaculture that had drawn the ire of watermen and prompted legislative proposals this year.

A 2008 law classified commercial aquaculture as a major wetlands project, triggering a $1,500 application fee. Additional permitting and impact charges would not have applied to aquaculture projects, said Maryland Department of the Environment spokeswoman Dawn Stoltzfus.

Seafood growers complained that the charge was excessive and threatened to disrupt the development of aquaculture sites. Legislation was introduced last month to establish a fee waiver for aquaculture operations for at least three years.

The fees were enacted with construction of piers and docks in mind, said Don Webster, chairman of the Maryland Aquaculture Coordinating Council, during a bill hearing in the Senate last month.

Before lawmakers could act, MDE Secretary Shari T. Wilson determined that such ventures are covered under an existing exemption for stream restoration, vegetative shoreline stabilization, wetland creation or other projects in which the primary effect is to enhance the state's wetlands or water resources.

The action was made in concert with the O'Malley administration's recent oyster restoration plan, which aims to foster a sustainable public fishery, improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay, create new jobs and spur economic activity. That plan has also come under fire from watermen.

House Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell, a member of the Aquaculture Coordinating Council who sponsored the House bill that aimed to ditch the fees, said he personally appealed to O'Malley (D) and is pleased that MDE didn't wait for the legislature to act. But he is pushing forward with his legislation to ensure the fees are not reinstituted.

"The thinking is if you can put this in administratively, you can take this out administratively," said O'Donnell (R-Calvert, St. Mary's). "[Doing it] administratively is good because it allows it to take effect immediately so we can move permits now, but the bill is important to codify policy in state statute."

Capital News Service reporter Stephanie Hlad contributed to this report.