“Tennessee On Me” faces criticism as campaign begins day after unemployment benefits end

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NASHVILLE, Tennessee (WKRN) Gov. Bill Lee faces backlash after announcing he would offer $ 250 flight vouchers to out-of-state tourists just a day after ending the $ 300 of unemployment benefits funded by the federal government.

Come see Tennessee on me and enjoy your free flight, said country music star Brad Paisley. He partnered with Lee to announce the Tennessee On Me campaign for free airline flights.

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Lee takes all the credit for making the funds available.

States buy all of these plane tickets and give them to anyone who books two nights in a hotel room to come to Tennessee, so maybe it should be Tennessee on Governor Lee, state 50th governor said. in advertising.

Lack of better conditions, slap in the face, said Josh Hubbard of the Tri-Cities.

Hubbard and his wife, who have cancer, were both dismissed by doctors due to COVID and were receiving unemployment benefits.

That extra $ 300, I really don’t understand why they think it’s a lavish lifestyle, that’s going to be enough to keep someone from going to work, it doesn’t, Hubbard said.

Tennessee taxpayers pay $ 2.5 million for 10,000 airfare vouchers.

It’s quite shocking, said Rep. John Clemmons (D-Nashville).

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Clemmons, one of the most vocal Democrats in the legislature, said the new initiative to boost tourism was more about business interests.

If you’ve seen downtown Nashville on July 4th, if you’ve seen photos of Gatlinburg, our tourism industries are making a comeback, ”Clemmons said. “The question is: what are we going to prioritize?

The $ 250 digital gift cards are from Delta, American, and Southwest Airlines and are intended for visitors to metropolitan areas of Tennessee.

Our schools are no better, our teachers are not getting their pay raises, our bridges are still collapsing, our rural hospitals are still closing.

News 2 contacted Gov. Bill Lees’ office for an interview and was referred to the Department of Tourism. A spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Tourism released a statement saying:

“The tourism campaign is funded by state funds in the budget of the Department of Tourism Development and is entirely separate from the federally funded pandemic temporary unemployment program.”

Lt. Gov. Randy McNally released a statement saying he was unaware of the budget item until the campaign began.

“I was not told the details of the promotion prior to launch. The mission of the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development is to motivate travel to and within Tennessee. While the tourism industry in our major cities has been hit hard hit during the COVID crisis, it rebounded in record time. Under these circumstances, I would have preferred a more traditional approach to tourism development rather than direct transfers of Tennessee tax dollars to mostly beneficiaries out of state. It is particularly troubling that promotion is limited to our large cities. At least two of these cities have exacerbated the economic crisis by instituting overly aggressive foreclosure policies. It does not make sense to limit the promotion to these cities when our rural areas have been hit as hard, if not more, by the economic crisis than these cities. I will ask the administration and the Ministry of Development ement to provide more details to the legislature on such initiatives during the budget process in the future. “

Visitors can book by September and must visit before the end of the year. More than 60 hotels are participating in the tourist campaign.

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