Tourism is an important growth industry in our economy. Many citizens in our community make their living directly and/or indirectly from tourism. I respect the importance of this industry within our county. I support the new “Relax” branding campaign’s mission to create greater economic prosperity by targeting tourists within an 8-hour drive time of our county. I think the majority of the work Paradise Advertising created is excellent and elevates the image of our home town. The source of monies used to pay for this campaign came from bed tax generated by tourists, and these monies are allocated for tourism marketing in various forms by state law. I understand the budget for this campaign is not funded by locals or their hard-earned tax dollars.
