Does Governor Charlie Baker Hate Cape Cod? – Slashes Tourism Budget

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CapeCodTimes.com – Cape and Islands business leaders said Friday they were stunned by staggering cuts to tourism-related programs in Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

Under the proposal, funding for the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism, which markets the entire state as a leisure-travel destination, is slated to drop from just over $14 million to a little over $6 million, and financial assistance to the state’s 16 regional tourism councils is set to drop from $5 million to $500,000.

“We were shocked,” said Wendy Northcross, chief executive officer of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce and chairwoman of the Massachusetts Regional Tourism Councils. “Marketing works. Advertising works. To go backwards at this time doesn’t seem logical given the needs of the state.”

Is this the most short sighted move in the history of politics? Spending money on tourism marketing is one of the very few budget line items that actually creates a return on the spending. It’s an investment, not an expense. Imagine if someone ran a business this way? Let’s say you own a restaurant and you need to cut some spending, slashing your advertising budget is the last thing you would want to do. If anything you would want to increase marketing in order to increase revenue.

I guess seeing the big picture is just way too much to ask from our government though. God forbid they maybe cut expenditures that wouldn’t affect a major industry and the overall income of the state. I don’t know, maybe something like toll booth operators making $100K a year is a tiny bit more detrimental to the health of our economy than spending money on tourism marketing? If our fictitious restaurant had a dishwasher making six figures and we slashed our advertising budget instead of firing him, it would be out of business in 8 seconds flat.

Hey Charlie Baker, it takes money to make money. Business 101. Thanks for murdering Cape Cod though.

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Comments 19

  2. Maybe some of the high paid people on "the boards" will get off of their "you know whats" and get productive. Even with all that $$ I don't see any benefit from what they spent the tourism $$ on. Time to trim the fat on Cape Cod. Join the rest of us working class that make tourism what it is in the first place. Don't need the tourism budget, but we need us to provide for the tourists. They'll always come to Cape Cod.

  5. (POSTING ANOMOUSLY) But wait… Cape Cod markets ITSELF. the Chamber doesn't really have to work hard to promote the Cape. Other areas of Mass ( like Western Mass, Central Mass & the North Shore ) have been complaining for years that the Cape takes most of the Tourism budget anyway. I dare someone to find a single person in the US (foreign countries and US Territories don't count) who doesn't know SOMETHING about the Cape, or who didn;t come here as a kid. Just random thinking here. Let the Hospitality Industry pay for advertising itself and stop using taxpayer money to make hotel owners richer by raising their room rates every year. Besides, wasn't a percentage of the LOCAL ROOM TAX supposed to pay for the tourism budget anyway? (disclosure: I currently make my living IN the Tourism and Hospitality Industry)

  7. 5 MILLION??? WTF were they spending it on ? i don't blame him, it sounds like he is handling it like a business, get rid of the waste.

  8. 5 MILLION??? WTF were they spending it on ? i don't blame him, it sounds like he is handling it like a business, get rid of the waste.

  9. Fourteen million for what? Good job Charlie keep cutting. I do agree on the toll takers, give the guy a break he's been in office for what eight weeks now, Deval left him (us) in a 760 million dollar hole.

  10. Cape Cod is the red headed bastard stepchild of Massachusetts. Look at what we get back in aid from lottery sales. It's crumbs compared to the Boston area. Our towns should put the squeeze on lottery sales and see how fast we get our tourism dollars back. It's short money compared to lottery dollars!

  11. GOOD! Take all of the money from this worthless fund! We sacrifice TOO MUCH for tourists. I'm sick of suffering as a local for the sake of tourism. I hate it! It's not like the locals ever see any of the benefits of this so called tourism. Cape Cod is still insanely expensive to live in. Which is why it's almost entirely a retirement community!

  12. GOOD! Take all of the money from this worthless fund! We sacrifice TOO MUCH for tourists. I'm sick of suffering as a local for the sake of tourism. I hate it! It's not like the locals ever see any of the benefits of this so called tourism. Cape Cod is still insanely expensive to live in. Which is why it's almost entirely a retirement community!

  15. Tourism is a horrible industry. You have some loser who is a resident of Florida, who will only hire H2B visa workers. What benefit does that serve the taxpayers? Get some real jobs here. But when benthos wanted to expand (with all those $100,000 year jobs) they couldn't because we have to be pretty for the tourists so we can have shitty seasonal $9 an hour jobs (if you can get one)

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