Gubernatorial Candidates & 2019 Legislative Session
Even though the dust has just settled with the 2018 Legislative Session, NM Hospitality Association’s government affairs committee met this week to begin our plans for this year. Having a strategic approach to interim session will provide an excellent opportunity for NM Hospitality Association to be preemptive of several undesirable pieces of legislation and provide an opportunity to start discussions around our priorities.

The 2019 legislative session will be fast and furious with a new administration; we cannot wait until session to have key conversations. The NM Hospitality Association board of directors believes that keeping the NM TRUE brand must be one of the association’s priority positions; it will become increasingly important for the industry to transition the importance of the tourism economy and the brand through to the next administration. Moreover, another crucial issue that NM Hospitality Association will continue to pursue is the short-term rental challenges (Airbnb, HomeAway, VRBO), and the collection of Lodgers’ Tax and GRT.

Please download this Gubernatorial Brief and share it with candidates. Click HERE. It reviews several additional positions that our Government Affairs Committee proposed and the Board of Directors recently approved; three of which are below:

New Mexico TRUE Brand, Campaign & Strategy.
Through significant state investment and industry support, the New Mexico TRUE brand has realized overwhelming success. The industry supports the continuation of the New Mexico TRUE brand with some adjustments to its execution and expansion of its marketing strategy.

• Shift the marketing strategy from an exclusively brand awareness campaign to a duel strategy: brand awareness and conversion.
• Enhance representation from all regions of the state in the campaign’s creative execution, specifically southern New Mexico and Urban settings.
• Design a research-based complementary partnership model to expand cooperative opportunities and private sector investment.
• Build upon the New Mexico TRUE community partnership programs to include an Urban community partnership option.
• Develop a brand and marketing strategy for groups, including tour and travel, meetings and conventions.

New Mexico Tourism Department Involvement in Traditional Economic Development Activity.
Through extensive research, the New Mexico Tourism Department has successfully demonstrated the correlation between tourism advertising and its positive effect on economic development indicators. However, the New Mexico Tourism Department pursuing economic development activity is a distraction to its authorized core mission and may yield unintended consequences to the department’s overall effectiveness. Tourism development is a form of economic development; however, tourism strategies are fundamentally different than other economic development strategies. New Mexico Tourism Department is not a general advertising management agency; it is a tourism marketing and development specialized agency.

Spaceport America, Virgin Galactic and the Inaugural Flight.
The industry believes that there is significant tourism potential with the Virgin Galactic Inaugural Flight and a comprehensive state promotion and public relations strategy is necessary to realize the economic opportunity. The state led strategy’s ultimate desired goal is to optimize the earned media potential, maximize the visitor experience and increase travel throughout the state.

NM Association of Commerce and Industry (ACI)
ACI has been and will continue to be a valued partner for our government affairs initiatives. They too are going through a transition with their president & CEO, Jason Espinoza, moving on to another organization and Alison Smith entering as interim CEO. We will continue to partner with ACI as appropriate and are looking forward to the next new chapter for both of our organizations.

Get Involved!
If you are interested in joining the association’s Government Affairs Committee and participating in the process, please login to your membership portal, the MIC, and sign up to join the committee. Click HERE.