Five States, Five Tourism Funding Lessons Before GovCon 2026
Before Colorado’s tourism industry gathers in Breckenridge for the Governor’s Tourism Conference September 23–25, 2026, it is worth looking at how other states are competing.
Colorado still has a world-class tourism product. But these five states illustrate a changing competitive environment: sustained investment, persistence in a soft market, a new industry-funded model and the redirection of lodging-tax revenue away from tourism.
West Virginia keeps compounding
West Virginia’s “Almost Heaven” strategy has become one of the industry’s most closely watched state-brand turnarounds, and its recent results are notable. Visitors spent a record $6.6 billion in the state in 2024, generating $9.1 billion in total economic impact when indirect and induced effects are included. Visitor spending was 28.2% above 2019, compared with 12.4% growth nationally over the same period, according to Tourism Economics and the West Virginia Department of Tourism.
The state continues to put substantial public resources behind that momentum. West Virginia’s enacted FY 2027 budget appropriates $20.55 million to the tourism secretary’s office for brand promotion, public relations, events and sponsorships, industry development, and state parks advertising. It separately directs a $4.81 million lottery transfer to the Tourism Promotion Fund (West Virginia FY 2027 budget).
West Virginia also demonstrates that effective destination development does not always require expensive new attractions. Its check-in-based products turn existing places and stories into reasons to travel. More than 10,000 people from 47 states and seven countries registered for its Paranormal Trail mobile passport, while its new SWINGO challenge sends travelers to more than five dozen scenic swing locations. Meanwhile, the 2026 West Virginia Vacation Guide has distributed more than 350,000 copies since January and received the state-level U.S. Travel ESTO Award for Excellence in Print Marketing (West Virginia Tourism; U.S. Travel).
The immediate question is whether that momentum survives a leadership transition. Gov. Patrick Morrisey appointed former state legislator Kayla Kessinger as tourism secretary on August 18, following Chelsea Ruby’s departure in July. Kessinger has said she intends to build on the department’s existing work (Office of the Governor).
New Mexico measures a 9-to-1 tax return and targets Denver
An independent advertising-effectiveness study commissioned by the New Mexico Tourism Department estimated that the New Mexico True campaign influenced nearly 1.2 million trips and $2.3 billion in visitor spending in 2025. Those trips generated an estimated $169 million in state and local taxes—a $9 tax return for every campaign dollar spent and the campaign’s highest measured tax ROI in nearly 15 years, up from $7 in 2015.
Denver was one of seven measured advertising markets, along with Austin, Dallas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. Ad recall among traveling households ranged from 30% to 49% across those markets (New Mexico Tourism Department).
The lesson for Colorado is straightforward: New Mexico is investing in Colorado’s largest population center and using independent research to quantify the resulting trips, spending, and tax revenue.
Utah stays committed to a softer Canadian market
Canada remains Utah’s largest international market for both visitation and spending, nearly twice the size of China, but Utah projected an 11% decline in Canadian visitation for 2025. The Utah Office of Tourism’s response has been to stay engaged.
In April, Utah hosted Canadian travel advisors and destination partners in Toronto, relaunched its Utah Specialist Academy with advisor incentives, and began recruiting participants for FAM trips scheduled between September and December. “We’re not naive. But now is not the time to pull back,” Global Markets Manager Tera Atwood told (Travelweek).
That persistence is supported by long-term product investment. Salt Lake City International Airport will open the final gates and concessions in its $5.1 billion redevelopment on October 27, while Deer Valley expects to offer 4,500 skiable acres and 11 new lifts for the 2026–27 season. Utah is also building toward the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (Salt Lake City International Airport; Deer Valley).
Utah’s bet is that relationships and market presence built during a downturn will be valuable when demand and air service recover.
Washington creates a path to industry-funded scale
Washington eliminated its state tourism agency in 2011. A nonprofit statewide destination organization later resumed tourism marketing, but Washington has remained among the country’s least-funded statewide programs.
That may change. On March 26, Gov. Bob Ferguson signed HB 2325, authorizing the creation of a statewide tourism assessment funded by participating tourism-related businesses. A ratepayer oversight board must still design the rates and affected business classifications, and each participating sector must approve its assessment through a weighted referendum before any money can be collected (Washington Legislature).
Industry recommendations that informed the law identified lodging, restaurants, attractions, recreation, travel services, beverage businesses, and retail as potential participants and set a target of at least $25 million in annual collections. Actual funding will depend on the final program and referendum results. If approved, the assessment revenue would be overseen by the businesses paying it and would not depend on annual general-fund appropriations (State of Washington Tourism).
Washington has not created a $25 million program yet. It has created a credible mechanism for the industry to build one.
Oregon lets local governments redirect lodging-tax revenue
Oregon moved in the opposite direction in 2026.
Under previous law, at least 70% of revenue from new or increased local lodging taxes generally had to support tourism promotion or tourism-related facilities. HB 4148, signed into law in April, lowers that floor to 50% beginning January 1, 2027. Cities and counties may—not must—redirect the difference to public services or use some of the tourism-related allocation for resiliency grants to restaurant and lodging businesses (enrolled HB 4148).
In the same session, Oregon raised its statewide lodging tax from 1.5% to 2.75%, also beginning January 1. The additional 1.25 percentage points, which lodging receipts must identify as a “nature conservation fee,” are projected to generate approximately $37 million annually for wildlife conservation, wildfire-related work, invasive-species control, wildlife enforcement, and wolf-depredation programs. The existing portion of the tax continues to support the Oregon Tourism Commission, but the increase does not provide additional tourism-marketing funding (Oregon Department of Revenue; OPB).
These programs may support resources and services visitors use. The competitive risk is that visitors will pay a higher tax while some destinations may have fewer dollars available to generate future demand. Whether local governments use their new flexibility—and what happens to visitation and revenue afterward—will be worth watching.
Why it matters for Colorado
Colorado welcomed 96.8 million visitors who spent a record $29.2 billion in 2025. But spending grew only 2%, compared with 4.2% nationally, and Colorado’s share of the U.S. travel market fell from 2.3% in 2019 to 1.79% in 2025. Travel-supported employment also declined 0.6% to 187,860 jobs (Colorado Tourism Office).
At the same time, the Colorado Tourism Office is operating with a $19.3 million budget, $1 million less than last year and roughly unchanged in nominal terms for a decade. That limits its purchasing power as media costs and competing state investments rise.
The evidence suggests that campaign quality is not the problem. Colorado’s recent winter campaign generated an estimated $971 in visitor spending for every advertising dollar, the highest return SMARI has measured among the winter destination campaigns it evaluates (The Colorado Sun).
None of this proves directly that a larger budget would automatically restore Colorado’s market share; tourism performance is also affected by weather, prices, air service, economic conditions, and traveler preferences. It does show that Colorado is losing competitive ground while operating an unusually efficient campaign with limited reach.
As the industry gathers at GovCon, the central question is not whether Colorado has a compelling story or knows how to tell it. It is whether the scale and stability of our investment match the competition.