Later, Gov. O'Malley toured a new museum in Hancock, where geological and wildlife exhibits from the former Sideling Hill Exhibit Center are now housed. The Sideling Hill Welcome Center closed last summer, and local officials stepped in to create the Hancock Museum and Visitors Center.

New Destination Maryland includes savings passport
The 2010 edition of Destination Maryland: The Official Guide to Maryland State Travel is now available. Call 800-719-5900 or visit the Maryland’s Office of Tourism web site – www.visitmaryland.org – to order a free copy of this magazine-style guidebook.

Destination Maryland includes itineraries and listings for more than 2,000 attractions, destinations, state and national parks, lodging venues, and tour and travel services. Each issue also has a “Maryland Welcome! Passport” – good for up to $3,500 in savings at 250 attractions, restaurants, retailers and places to stay. Destination Maryland is also available as an online flip-book.

According to D.K. Shifflet and Associates, a travel-industry research firm, Maryland welcomed more than 28 million visitors in 2008 who spent nearly $14.5 billion on travel-related expenses – transportation, food, lodging, shopping, and entertainment. During 2008, the state’s tourism industry also generated close to $1.8 billion in state and local taxes and provided 146,000 jobs to Maryland residents.

Maryland Film Festival opens May 6
The 12th annual Maryland Film Festival, which runs May 6-9, primarily at The Charles Theatre, features 130 films (including shorts) and nine sessions focusing on the craft of filmmaking at the festival’s outdoor Tent Village. The Maryland Film Office, an original sponsor of the festival, will help to present the Tent Village sessions.

As has been the festival’s custom, a series of short films will be shown on opening night, Thursday, May 6 at the Maryland Institute College (MICA) of Art’s Brown Center. Film director and Baltimore native John Waters continues his tradition of hosting a film of his choice on Friday evening at The Charles. This year, it’s United 93.

The festival will twice present the East Coast premiere of Music by Prudence – an Oscar-winning documentary short that was co-produced by Patrick Wright, chair of MICA’s video and film arts department. It depicts the story of a band of young, disabled Zimbabwean musicians and their lead singer, Prudence Mabhena. A group of MICA students – including cinematographer Errol Webber (class of 2008) – worked on the film.

Worcester County arranges FAM tour for author
Freelance writer Leslie Atkins is traveling across Maryland as she researches her upcoming guidebook, Maryland Backroads and Byways, which will be published by Countryman Press. She began her travels in Worcester County last week, accompanied by Connie Yingling, public relations coordinator for Maryland’s Office of Tourism.

The itinerary included visits to Assateague Island National Seashore and the Ocean City Lifesaving Museum, and a kayak ride on the Isle of Wight Bay with Ayers Creek Adventurers. In Berlin, Atkins watched artist Jeffrey Auxer demonstrate glassblowing and visited Baked Desserts Café. She also toured Snow Hill and visited the Furnace Town Living Heritage Museum.

These Worcester County representatives helped to arrange the trip: Lisa Challenger, Worcester County Office of Tourism; Angela Reynolds, Fager’s Island properties; and Michael Day, Worcester County Economic Development.

Carroll County hosts FAM for Maryland tourism staff
Members of Maryland’s Tourism Office traveled to Carroll County, April 15, for a FAM tour hosted by Barbara J. Beverungen (Carroll County DMO) and the Carroll County Tourism Office. The group visited the Historical Society of Carroll County (Westminster), the Carroll Arts Center (Westminster), SERRV International Gift Shop (Union Bridge), and the Carroll County Farm Museum (Westminster). Beverungen (in blue shirt) will retire in July.

Cardin convenes Maryland tourism leaders on Capitol Hill
U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin hosted representatives of Maryland’s tourism industry during a tour of the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, April 28. Dan Wenk, deputy director of the National Park Service, addressed the group. A discussion pertaining to the promotion of tourism in Maryland followed the tour.

Art educators meet in Baltimore for yearly conference
More than 4,000 visual-arts educators came to Baltimore in mid-April, for the National Arts Education Association’s annual conference. Among the keynote speakers at the event were: James H. Shelton III, assistant deputy secretary for Innovation and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education; Nancy Grasmick, Maryland State Superintendent of Schools; and Michael Hickey, director of the Center for Leadership in Education at Towson University.

Online advertising: response up 28 percent
The latest issue of the Maryland Tourism Monitor – the Tourism Office's monthly report that measures visitor activity, advertising response and trends in state travel – is available online.

Among its findings for February: More than 177,000 visitors, 17 percent of all web-site visitors, have responded to online advertising this fiscal year – an increase of 28 percent over last year.

Print advertising has also generated 52 percent more requests this year compared to last year. Tourism-related tax codes – which declined 3.2 percent for the first eight months of the fiscal year – have outperformed overall sales-tax collections, which declined 5.8 percent during that same time period. The tourism tax factor still lags 7.9 percent for this year.

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