Maryland’s five official welcome centers invited local businesses, attractions and community groups to join them during National Tourism Week for a travel information workshop, and dozens of partner organizations joined in the event. “This was the best year we’ve had so far,” said Jennifer Jones, Customer Contact Programs Manager, Maryland Office of Tourism. “It was an eclectic group of participants that included large hotel management companies and individual hotels, state and national parks, county tourism representatives, citizen boosters, and even the Maryland Symphony Orchestra.”

Also during Tourism Week, the Annapolis & Anne Arundel County Conference and Visitors Bureau (AAACCVB) donated $12,500 to the Maryland Tourism Education Foundation (MTEF) at a tourism event at Rams Head on Stage. The Visitors Bureau is also encouraging local partners to match the funds in order to raise the scholarship to $25,000. A 2015 Choice Communications Systems study found that the tourism industry employs nearly 35,000 workers in Anne Arundel County, accounting for nearly $1 billion in wages.

Pictured left to right: Division of Tourism, Film and the Arts Acting Assistant Secretary Bill Pencek, Maryland Senator John Astle, Annapolis Mayor Mike Pantelides, and Executive Vice-President of the U.S. Travel Association Gary Oster attend a Tourism Day event in Annapolis.

On May 13, the Maryland Office of Tourism Development welcomed tourism partners including DMOs and their marketing staffs representing 21 counties across the state to the Robinson Nature Center in Columbia for a far reaching and comprehensive marketing workshop. The event included brainstorming on group markets, consumer and sports shows, regional marketing, social media and product development.

“The day provided a positive and energetic environment in which to develop and share ideas, and to engage in productive discussions with OTD staff and our DMO colleagues,” said John Fieseler, Executive Director, Tourism Council of Frederick County.

Last Friday, more than a thousand Marylanders attended an open casting call in Bel Air for “House of Cards” season four in the hopes of landing a paid roll on the popular Netflix drama. The first two seasons of “House of Cards” and the first three seasons of HBO’s comedy “VEEP” hired more than 6,800 Marylanders and generated an economic impact of $345 million while purchasing or renting goods or services from more than 7,700 Maryland businesses. The indirect impact of these productions reaches even further generating tourism dollars through events such as Harford County’s popular House of Cards Tour. Brand recognition for Elk Run Vineyards is credited to the series with a dramatic 11 percent increase of wine sales, a 25 percent increase in tasting room visitors, greater penetration into restaurants, and a doubling of festival and event attendance.

The Maryland Film Office also supports local and independent film makers, enabling productions like “Ping Pong Summer” which appeared at Sundance, SxSW and International Film Festival Rotterdam and supports organizations like Wide Angle Youth Media, Creative Alliance Movie Makers and the Creative Edge Studio Collaborative.

“It would be hard to catalog all of the ways that the Film Office helps,” said Jed Dietz, Director, Maryland Film Festival. Through its work with local film festivals, including the Maryland Film Festival in Baltimore as well as festivals in Annapolis, Easton, Frederick, Silver Spring and Greenbelt, the Maryland Film Office helps bring film to tens of thousands of Marylanders across the state each year.

“We had 25,000 attendees,” says Dietz, “People are traveling to come to this, and they’re staying in hotels. There’s a real tourism impact, and we’re a long way from stopping growing.”

Governor Hogan continues his strong support for the arts in choosing Julie Madden and Jack Rasmussen to join the Maryland State Arts Council. Madden was the state’s Director of Arts and Community Outreach from 2003-3007, holds a master’s degree in Decorative Arts from the Smithsonian-Corcoran College of Art and Design and is a lifelong arts advocate. In addition to her seat on the MSAC, Madden also serves on the boards of the Maryland Commission on Artistic Property, Maryland Citizens for the Arts, and on the Baltimore Museum of Art’s Accessions Committee.

Rasmussen has an extensive background in arts education and in the development and administration of non-profit arts organizations. Rasmussen has served as director of the Rockville Arts Place and the Maryland Art Place and is currently the Director and Curator of the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center.

OTD is working with state and county park officials, National Park representatives, the Maryland Indian Tourism Association, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and members of the Piscataway Indian Tribe to develop tourism resources focusing on their heritage. The eventual program would include sites in Charles, St. Mary’s and Calvert counties including Zekiah Fort and others. The newly formed Piscataway Indian Heritage Trail Steering Committee is meeting this month to develop a marketing plan and to begin formalizing long-range goals. For more information, contact Anne Kyle at AKyle@visitmaryland.org.

Findings from the latest Tourism Monitor show an increase of 7.3 percent in adjusted tourism sales tax revenues during the first eight months of the 2015 Fiscal Year. OTD’s marketing with advertising and public relations efforts are also up significantly from Fiscal Year 2014. Electronic requests for travel kits and broadcast leads were both up 33 and 14 percent respectively. Maryland welcome centers saw an 8 percent increase in visitation and media placements generated close to $8.1 million in advertising value. The state’s gaming revenue and employment in the leisure and hospitality sector also grew by 24 and 2 percent respectively.

Each week, the Maryland Minute provides highlights and insights on this weekend’s events around the state. Maryland Minute is featured on CBS radio stations in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. and on Baltimore’s WBAL-AM 1090.