A bill that would divert a portion of hotel occupancy tax in Pennsylvania into a new fund supporting tourism marketing, museums and art and culture organizations is close to being approved. Dubbed the Tourism, Museum and Arts Funding Act, the proposed legislation would direct one percentage point of Pennsylvania’s 6% hotel occupancy tax into bolstering the state’s marketing budget in hopes of attracting more visitors to the state.

Tourism is Pennsylvania’s second largest industry, typically generating an economic impact of $45 billion. However, budget cuts over the years to tourism-related programs, combined with the impact of COVID-19, have negatively impacted tourism growth in the state. If this bill becomes law, 60% of the associated tax revenue would be channeled to promoting and marketing Pennsylvania to out-of-state leisure and business travelers, while the other 40% would be used by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Council on the Arts for grants to museums and arts organizations.

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