Have you always wanted to go to Hawaii? Somebody’s betting $69.2 million a year that they can turn that nagging feeling into action.
The other day I picked up one of those supplemental travel magazines put out by a non-travel mag in order to grab some extra ad dollars (and maybe test the waters for something more permanent). In this case it was Real Simple and apparently the key to being real simple is to make lists. Lots of lists. As in “nuggets of trivia to entertain your travel companion” and “top road-trip songs” picked by the music supervisor of Grey’s Anatomy. Did this stuff come free in an anonymous Priority Mail box from expired Travel Savvy?
Some of the material was worthwhile though, including this fine list of the top-10 free-spending states when it comes to tourism marketing budgets. Some of these are doozies. I could be wrong, but I’d guess that the top few surpass the budget for most countries in this big world of ours. If Nicaragua spent what West Virginia spends, which would sound more enticing? Hmmmm…
Hawaii – $69.2 million
Illinois – $47.8 million
Pennsylvania – $31.8 million
Florida – $29.4 million
Texas – $28.4 million
West Virginia – $24.4 million
The other four are Arizona, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Tennessee. (Apparently New York and Nevada don’t have to try very hard.)
