Arkansas tourism cash flow in jeopardy with bathroom bill

Tourism in Arkansas contributes about $350 million a year in state taxes and a bill on bathroom use being studied after its failure in the Legislature this year “jeopardizes” the state’s image, said Arkansas Tourism Director Joe David Rice.

Rice and Jim Dailey, the incoming tourism director, were in Van Buren and Fort Smith on Thursday after having visited much of northwest Arkansas earlier this week.

Speaking to members of the Van Buren Advertising & Promotion Commission and other local leaders Thursday at the Van Buren Chamber of Commerce, Rice said the bill from state Sen. Linda Collins-Smith, R-Pocahontas, “can really undo a lot of hard work done by thousands of folks.”

“We’ve had some political issues coming up in the Legislature that have threatened to harm everything we’ve done for the last 30 years,” Rice said of what he called “the bathroom bill.” “We have spent literally millions of dollars trying to establish a positive image of Arkansas out there. People think that Arkansas is a good place to come and that bathroom bill could jeopardize all of that.”

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