Batt Praises State Tourism

During a luncheon speech, Gov. Phil Batt touted the benefits of tourism to wrap up a statewide tourism conference.

Batt spoke to the annual Idaho Governor’s Conference on Recreation and Tourism on Friday, to people who were in Burley this week to learn how other states compete for tourism dollars.

He said tourism is second only to Idaho’s farming industry in the number of people it employs, with 30,000 jobs. “We get between 5 and 15 percent of our sales tax from tourism and tourists put a lot of money in our state’s coffers while demanding little in the way of services,” he said.

“We don’t have to pay for their schools, or their welfare and normally we don’t have to build prisons for them, either.”

He encouraged Idaho residents to stay in the state when they go on vacation this summer. Batt said if he had known the 4 cents a gallon fuel tax increase passed this year would end up costing residents 30 cents a gallon at the pump, he wouldn’t have signed it.