BOSTON – Tourism officials want more money to promote Massachusetts and warn that proposed cuts will cost jobs and damage the local economy.

The Senate on Tuesday approved a $40.4 billion spending plan that takes effect July 1, with $6 million pledged to 16 regional tourism councils, including those for the North Shore and Merrimack Valley.

Tourism officials say that’s not enough.

“We know the state is facing a budget deficit, but tourism is an investment that generates money to fund essential state services,” said Ann Marie Casey, executive director of the North of Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau. “It helps drive our economic growth.”

The tourism councils asked Gov. Charlie Baker for $10.2 million in the fiscal 2018 budget, she said, but got only $3 million.

Lawmakers tacked on another $3 million, and tourism officials are hoping for an additional boost from final negotiations between the House and Senate.

Casey said the funding is vital to selling the state as a destination.

“If we don’t spend the money, people will just go somewhere else,” she said.

Most of the nearly $200,000 in funds received by the North of Boston bureau from the state last year were put toward marketing the region in TV, radio, online and print advertising.

The bureau also provides money to local chambers of commerce to promote events such as the Topsfield Fair and Salem’s annual “Haunted Happenings.”

Casey said the tourism bureau, which gets about half its budget from membership dues and private sources, had to cut staff to offset previous cuts. 

Tourism officials welcome an amendment to the new budget that would require the state to release tourism funds by Sept. 1. In previous years, the regional councils dug into their budgets as they awaited promised funds from the state.

“You have to spend money to make money,” said Sen. Joan Lovely, D-Salem, who sponsored the amendment. “These councils are spending pennies on the dollar to get tourists here, and they need that money in the fall to start planning for next season.”

Tourism is the third-largest industry in the state. 

Visitors to Massachusetts generate about $20.2 billion a year, including $1.3 billion in state and local taxes. The industry employs 135,000 people and pays $4.4 billion in wages, according to a 2014 study by the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism.

The state gets more than 25 million visitors a year from within the United States, as well as 2.5 million overseas visitors and 735,000 Canadians, according to the study. 

Tourism funding has been a regular target for cuts. Money for the regional councils dropped from $7.5 million in fiscal 2014 to between $3 million and $6 million in each of the following three years.

In 2015, Baker cut $8 million from the state Office of Travel and Tourism. That would have virtually gutted money for the regional councils, from $5 million to $500,000, and turned funding for them into a competitive grant. But lawmakers negated his cuts with an override.

For the budget that takes effect July 1, Baker proposed funding the councils at $3 million while shifting $3 million to events celebrating the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower and the founding of Plymouth Colony in 2020.

The House and Senate bumped up funding for the councils to $6 million.

The Baker administration has also sought to ferret out legislative earmarks for destinations such as museums and programs, which it says has driven up tourism spending.

Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhi.com.