Ohio committee hears second hearing on bill to allow hotel-led tourism promotion districts

House members held a second hearing on House Bill 138 on the House Arts, Athletics and Tourism Committee, during which proponent witnesses from Destination Cleveland, Experience Columbus, hotel operators and a funding consultant outlined how locally formed tourism promotion districts could increase visitor spending while committee members probed constitutional, competitiveness and oversight concerns.

The bill would permit a local community, at the request of local hotel businesses, to create a tourism promotion district (TPD) that can levy a compulsory assessment on lodging to fund destination marketing, event support and other visitor-related services. "We are the civic organization that markets Cleveland to consumers and convention planners outside of the region," said Gordon Taylor, chief sales officer for Destination Cleveland, describing how tourism currently drives Cleveland’s economy and how a TPD could have helped hotels that hosted the American Society of Association Executives conference in 2024.

Why it matters: proponents said the districts would generate incremental revenue from visitors — not local taxpayers — that can be used to attract conventions and overnight stays, which they argued produce significantly more local spending than day-only visitors. "A visitor that stays the night spends three times more money than a visitor that comes in for the day," said Brian Ross, president and CEO of Experience Columbus, who told the committee Columbus had $8.2 billion in direct visitor spending in 2023 and that those dollars support restaurants, retail and transportation as well as hotels.

Proponents’ pitch and examples

Representatives of major…