House Bill 1102 "AN ACT TO CREATE A MISSISSIPPI TOURISM ADVERTISING AND PROMOTION ADVISORY BOARD TO ASSIST THE MISSISSIPPI DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY IN THE PLANNING OF INITIATIVES FOR ADVERTISING AND PROMOTING TOURISM IN MISSISSIPPI" calls for 1% of sales tax revenue from restaurants and hotels to be diverted to a Mississippi Development Authority Tourism Advertising Fund in FY 2019, to be increased to 2% in FY 2020 and to 3% in 2021 and thereafter.
It's estimated that at the 3% level, annual funding would be about $11M, up significantly from the current tourism ad spend of less than $4M.
