User:JoanaComeyn2191

There's no question that large businesses can add a huge boost to an economy's bottom line. Think this: According to the Seattle Times, in March of 2012, Amazon listed 1,900 job openings in Seattle. At a time when quite a few  businesses were laying off workers, this large company was adding to its payroll. It's no wonder that a lot of  lawmakers work hard to court large companies in their mission to improve the financial outlook of their constituents. Port Commissioner John Creighton has another avenue that he believes lawmakers should follow. Briefly, he thinks tourism will be increasingly important to the region’s economy. Washington State isn't constantly associated with the tourist trade. Usually, spots  for example  New York, California or  Sin City spring to mind when talking about tourism. Yet the tourism niche brought in over $16 billion in profits for Washington State in 2011 alone.

As Seattle Port Commissioner, John Creighton has a vested interest in tourism promotion, to make sure that individuals continue to fly in via Sea-Tac Airport to see the sights that the Northwest has to present and to hop on cruises to Alaska from one of the Port of Seattle’s 2 cruise terminals.

According to statistics published by the Seattle Convention and Visitor's Bureau, more than 9 million visitors come to Seattle and King County each year, and they spend $5.9 billion during their visits. In addition, they contribute $463 million in state and local tax revenues. easily, this isn't an amount of money that any government can afford to overlook, particularly when the global economy continues to be strained and tax revenues are at historic lows.

Boosting tourism means investing in advertising, naturally, but John Creighton also believes that investing in infrastructure is important. Visitors need the capability to reach their locations, and the infrastructure demands to be sound sufficient to let for growth in the number of holiday-makers. As part of the Port’s 25-year vision for growth,, the Port Commission’s tourism-related goals incorporate doubling international spots out of Sea-Tac Airport and doubling the economic impact of the cruise industry for Washington State. Focusing on the necessary initiatives and clever investments to make this happen is some thing John Creighton hopes to stress in his next term as Port Commissioner.

In December of 2006, John Creighton was asked to do much more. At that time, Governor Chris Gregoire asked him to participate as a board member of the Washington State Freight Mobility Strategic Investment Board. This organization, according to its web site, is "… held accountable to generate an extensive and coordinated state program to facilitate freight movement between and among local, national and international markets which increases trade possibilities." It appears like an amazing fit for Port Commissioner John Creighton, as all of these are the types of issues that he is needed to address as part of his port duties on a daily basis.

FMSIB supplies advice to the Washington State Legislature about which projects are best to fund, and has the authority to allocate transportation dollars that the State Legislature has entrusted with the board on projects across the state that assist freight mobility. FMSIB needs that the tasks it helps incorporate a important percentage of local dollars as part of their funding package. A lot of projects that FMSIB helps fund incorporate port and private industry funding participation too. For any dollar FMSIB spends on a transportation project, 5 dollars of local or private money is included. Using this method, the board is able to leverage state transportation spending, and it can have an enormous effect on both jobs and income in the State of Washington. It is a responsibility John Creighton takes very seriously. He goes on to sit on the FMSIB board to this day, and plans to run for another term as Seattle Port Commissioner in 2013.