Amid decline in gov’t funding, new state marketing program will promote ‘experiences,’ leverage social media to support tourism industry

Scott Dolch, president and CEO of the Connecticut Restaurant Association, recently attended a conference in Alaska.

The event was a gathering of the Council of State Restaurant Associations, which has 52 member organizations from all 50 states, plus Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C.

On their own, Dolch and his wife took “a helicopter ride to a glacier,” where they went sledding with dogs that compete in the annual Iditarod race.

He posted about the excursion on social media, and was surprised at the response.

“The amount of likes and comments were great, but I just encouraged four people that are at this conference to sign up to go,” Dolch said. “I didn’t get paid to do that. I just loved my experience so much, and I wanted to show it off because it was a once-in-a-lifetime bucket list thing.”

That’s a small example of social media’s influence, but it offers a peek into why the state wants to harness that power in a new way to promote tourism here.

State officials plan to unveil a new tourism initiative this fall, following a recently passed law (House Bill 7166) aimed at boosting Connecticut’s important hospitality and visitor economy.

Under the law, the state Department of Economic and Community Development can create a program to sell Connecticut-branded merchandise and offer digital advertising opportunities to local businesses. Revenue from the program will support the state’s tourism fund.

The task of overseeing the program’s development falls to Anthony Anthony, the state’s chief marketing officer. He says that while any money raised for the tourism fund would be welcome, that’s not really the goal.

“My objective, my goal, my hope for this really is for it just to be self-sustaining,” Anthony said. “I don’t think it’s really going to bring in much revenue, but I do think that the return on investment is well worth it.”

Some in the tourism and hospitality industry, however, say that while the state has gotten creative with its marketing, what it really needs is more money invested in that effort.

‘See, do and eat’

Anthony said DECD is developing an e-commerce site where people can buy merchandise to receive reward points, which can only be exchanged for special experiences.

“We see it as a rewards program, where people can accrue points and utilize those points to cash in, either buying unique, one-time merchandise or experiences,” he said. “So, obviously, we’re in the tourism business, so it’s all about experiences. See, do and eat.”

The intent, Anthony said, is to create “one-of-a-kind experiences that money, literally and figuratively, cannot buy.”

That could be almost anything, he said, from a basketball lesson from a University of Connecticut athlete to making New Haven-style pizza with the owner of one of the Elm City’s famous restaurants — anything fun that any tourist attraction, restaurant or venue wants to showcase.

Whatever those experiences turn out to be, the object is to promote them on social media.

“We’re trying to leverage word-of-mouth marketing as the strongest form of marketing,” Anthony said. “So people, when they go out and do something that they absolutely love and enjoy doing, snap a picture of it — show, rather than tell — and let people know what you did and why you loved it so much.”

He then hopes those photos or videos can leverage the significant traffic that already exists on the state’s tourism website, ctvisit.com.

“Over the last three years, we’ve earned anywhere from 5 million to 10 million unique visits on that site,” he said. “So, that’s comparable to travel websites like Condé Nast or others. We’re certainly getting eyeballs.”

Anthony believes there is also “a value proposition” for state business brands that might want to use the site for sponsorships and advertising. He said the state has also developed a partnership with a merchandiser who, for a fee that hasn’t yet been determined, will produce state-branded merchandise as needed.

The program, which Anthony said will officially be unveiled in September or October, will be called CT Perks and Recreation.

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 represented 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 Appropriations 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 shoestring,” 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.”