Legislative panel adopts LFC recommendation for Tourism after briefing on marketing, Destination Forward and anti-litter campaign

Acting Secretary Lansing Adams and Legislative Finance Committee analyst Julissa Rodriguez told the Appropriations & Finance Committee that the Tourism Department's FY27 requests are largely aligned with the LFC recommendation, with the main variance tied to personnel costs and employee health premiums.

Julissa Rodriguez said the executive budget recommended slightly more general fund support than the LFC and that the overall difference between the two proposals was small. "The main differences are in personnel costs where the executive recommended slightly more than the LFC," she said.

Adams walked members through the agency's strategy and performance measures, saying the department recorded a record 2024 and that an annual economic-impact study showed roughly $200 million in growth, driven by a 2.7% increase in spending and about a 1.8% rise in visitation. "This is for calendar year 2024," Adams said when asked to clarify the reporting period.

On marketing, Adams described the New Mexico True brand and a $3.8 million cooperative marketing program that supports community advertising at a 2:1 match. He also outlined Destination Forward, a grants program that funds local infrastructure and site upgrades; Adams noted Destination Forward awards appear in appendices the committee received and said the program this year distributed roughly $1.9 million for infrastructure projects across the state.

The department highlighted New Mexico Magazine's recent profile successes and described earned-media efforts alongside paid advertising. Adams cited the Roswell International Air Race as an example of local event support: "56,000 attendees over that... 4, 5 days, and then it was, 29,600,000 of economic impact," he said.

Members asked how the department would use special-marketing dollars. Representative Sanchez asked whether the money would fund a single large "fly" market such as Chicago. Adams replied the department was still weighing options and could enter a large fly market or split funds among drive markets and cooperative advertising opportunities. He said Chicago and Oklahoma City were two markets under consideration.

Representative Vincent asked about emergency cooperative grants after floods in Ruidoso. Adams said the department awarded an emergency co-op grant of "about a 100,000" to Ruidoso and described additional advertising and event support to counter disaster narratives and keep visitation flowing.

The committee moved and approved the LFC recommendation for the department by voice consent; Vice Chair Dixon moved adoption and Representative Brown seconded. Committee members asked staff to continue working with the department on program detail and performance measures.

The Tourism Department provided appendices (B through E) listing cooperative marketing awards, Destination Forward recipients and event support; the department said it tracks performance measures and would return to questions not resolved at the hearing.

The committee will review special appropriations on the committee's scheduled special(s) day, per staff reminders.