�States intrinsically understand the value of growing their travel and tourism products. For many, the travel industry is their first, second, or third largest employer, and a major source of new jobs,� explained William S. Norman, president and CEO of the Travel Industry Association. �The challenge to these states is that competition is fierce. Each of them competes with one another-not to mention other countries and other discretionary activities-for visitors� dollars.� 

Hawaii is the leader in tourism office spending with a $60 million budget for 1999-2000, an increase of 3.2 percent over 1998-1999. Illinois ranks second with a budget of $55.5 million (+38.3%). Florida rounds out the top three with a budget of $54.3 million, despite a budget decrease of -0.3 percent. The biggest budgetary increases were reported by Iowa (+231%) to $17.6 million and by Colorado (+192%) to $7.3 million. Only seven states saw their budgets decrease from 1998-1999.

A considerable amount of each state�s tourism office budget is allocated for advertising purposes. Illinois plans to spend the most on domestic advertising, budgeting $11.7 million for 1999-2000, followed by Florida ($11.4 million) and Texas ($11.0 million). The total domestic advertising budget is $159 million, about 15 percent higher than 1999-2000 (47 states responding). The average domestic advertising budget for 1999-2000 is $3.4 million. In the past five years, average domestic advertising budgets have increased 40.3 percent (for comparable states). Tourism offices plan to spend $27.6 million on international advertising and promotion for 1999-2000, an increase of 13.8 percent over 1998-1999.

Besides advertising, states use a number of other means to promote travel to their destinations. Forty-nine states use toll-free phone numbers for visitor inquiries. Thirty-nine states plus the Northern Mariana Islands operate tourism offices in foreign cities, 47 states hold annual governors conferences on tourism. On average, states hosted 29 press tours. Most states also conduct travel-related research.
 

TIA is the national, non-profit organization representing all components of the $540 billion travel industry. TIA�s mission is to represent the whole of the U.S. travel industry to promote and facilitate increased travel to and within the United States.