Pike tourism dollars diverted to Philly and Pittsburgh

MILFORD — Officials in Pike County are concerned that a large portion of the tourism dollars spent in Pike will soon be siphoned to the two largest cities in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania State Tourism Office arbitrarily posted new grant guidelines on July 25. The guidelines set a new allocation of 19% of each fiscal year’s matching funds to Philadelphia and 13% allocation to Allegheny County (Pittsburgh). The net effect, according to state officials, is an 11% increase to Philadelphia and a 37% increase to Pittsburgh. The committee also pointed out that this would mean an average decrease of 12% in matching grant funds for the rest of the State’s Tourism Promotion Agencies (TPA) such as the Pocono Mountain Visitor’s Bureau that serves Pike County. There are 47 TPAs in Pennsylvania. The Pocono Mountain Visitor’s Bureau (PMVB) is the official tourism promotion agency and destination marketing organization for the Pocono Mountains Region of Carbon, Monroe, Pike, and Wayne Counties in Northeastern Pennsylvania, and according to Bob Uguccioni, PMVB President this region would see a decrease in funds of $300,000. Mr. Uguccioni said, “The PMVB received $1.8 million last year, second only to Philadelphia.” He went on to say that the main issue is that this all happened without any input from the TPA’s, State Representatives and State Senators. “There’s never been earmark’s for tourism legislation before…it’s always been competitive,” he stated. The Tourism Committee rebutted the criticisms through Deputy Secretary Mickey Rowley who spoke in an interview with Pittsburgh WTAE TV saying that the funding is fair, and that there is a long-ignored law requiring the state to give about 12.5 percent more grant money to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia than to other tourism bureaus. Rowley said, “This year we have acknowledged that.” Pike County Commissioner Harry Forbes stated that the commissioner’s office had contacted the legislators in our area in support of restoring funding to our TPA.” State Senator Lisa Baker says “I find the proposed changes unacceptable. Tourism is a major part of the economy of our region, and I am tired of seeing our rural communities suffer at the expense of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.” State Representative Michael T. Peifer stated in a letter to Secretary Yablonsky that he not only disagrees with the proposed matching fund guidelines, but also the manner in which it was handled. “It is unacceptable that the administration did not send advanced notice to the state’s TPA’s about the modifications.” The Pike County Chamber of Commerce has officially taken a stance against these new changes. Pike Chamber’s President, Paul Brislin said, “these new rules will in affect divert much needed tourism promotional dollars that the county is counting on.” He went on to say, “Pike County depends on tourism, at least 65% of our businesses derive their income from tourism dollars, with this decision following the January 2006’s 129% energy rate hike, Pike County is becoming a difficult marketplace for businesses to stay in business.” Perhaps Janet Wall, the Communications Vice President of Lancaster County’s Visitor’s Center, put it best when she was quoted in an interview with Lancaster Online, “how is it that we became the Commonwealth of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh?”