SANTA FE, NM - New Mexico Tourism Department (NMTD) Cabinet Secretary Jen Paul Schroer released the following statement in response to the passage of HB2, which was signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham earlier today and includes a $15 million appropriation of American Rescue Plan funds for tourism advertising:

“The Tourism Department celebrates the passage HB2 which provides an appropriation of $15 million to the Tourism Department for advertising and promotion. Prior to the pandemic, New Mexico had set records in visitation and visitor spending in 2019. When the pandemic struck in March 2020 and tourism promotion was put on pause, no industry faced more economic harm than New Mexico’s hospitality and tourism sector. 

We were hopeful that our efforts to focus on preparedness throughout 2020 would encourage a speedy return of demand for travel when the Tourism Department restarted its national advertising in May 2021. Since then, we have seen an encouraging rebound of several key indicators such as hotel occupancy and visitor spending, including a return to pre-pandemic levels of visitor spending in September 2021. 

With this $15 million appropriation for tourism adverting, we will be able to surge into 2022 with the resources to put New Mexico back on the map and further restore demand for travel to the Land of Enchantment.”

NMTD will use the $15 million appropriation for tourism promotion to boost national advertising efforts during the remaining Winter months and early Spring in order to optimize travel in 2022. This $15 million appropriation for tourism promotion allows the agency to begin its efforts towards a 4-season marketing strategy to further capitalize on the tourism economy's rebound. NMTD commends the Legislature and Gov. Lujan Grisham for investing in a proven economic strategy for New Mexico's small business community and urges the Legislature to support NMTD's FY23 budget request that will sustain the agency's 4-season marketing strategy.