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Visit Baltimore presents $8.8 million FY26 budget, announces interim CEO and plans expanded marketing to highlight drop in violent crime
Summary
Visit Baltimore told the City Council it will operate on an $8.8 million FY2026 budget, continue convention and tourism marketing and roll out a regional campaign to highlight recent declines in violent crime; the agency announced Kareem Swinton as interim president and CEO effective July 1.
Visit Baltimore outlined an $8.8 million operating budget for fiscal 2026 and outlined marketing and sales priorities aimed at increasing overnight stays, convention business and visitor spending.
Al Hutchinson, president and CEO, told the council that Visit Baltimore will focus on three priorities in 2026: expanding storytelling about the city’s arts and culture, attracting new conventions and working with the Baltimore Convention Center Task Force on governance and modernization plans. Hutchinson said the organization measures success by total visitors and hotel-tax revenue, and cited 27,500,000 visitors in 2024 and a hotel-tax split set by state law in which the city receives 60% and Visit Baltimore receives 40%.
Hutchinson announced he will step down June 30 and that the Visit Baltimore board appointed Kareem Swinton, the…
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