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Maryland's governor told a conference of tourism professionals that the state is beginning to see some positive indicators amid a stagnant national economy.
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"There are people who have been doing revenue estimates in your state government -- very professional, smart people -- for 30, 40 years, and they've never seen anything like what's happened in the last two years of this recession," Gov. Martin O'Malley said. "But we're starting to see some glimmers of hope."

O'Malley addressed a luncheon at the Maryland Tourism & Travel Summit, formerly the Governor's Tourism Industry Conference, at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center. The annual event, in its 29th year, saw lower attendees than usual, officials said, likely as a result of the economy.

The governor said while nationwide tourism and travel-related jobs fell by 8 percent in the last year, Maryland saw those jobs increase by 1.5 percent. He also said overall lodging nights broke even while the rest of the country was down "considerably."

O'Malley noted a recent Forbes magazine report that Maryland is among a handful of states that saw growth in the last year. He also said in September the state gained 1,400 construction jobs -- the first increase in that sector in 18 months.

"There's 50 ships in our fleet, and you could not be on a stronger ship than the good ship Maryland," he said, repeating a nautical analogy he's used often in 2009. "We'll get through this. We're going to get through it together, and we're going to come out of it stronger than before."

Anirban Basu, an economist who addressed the conference last Thursday, said Maryland is in better economic shape than most other states.

He said since September 2008, the state lost 58,000 jobs -- about 62 percent of which came from the Baltimore area -- though at half the pace of the rest of the U.S. He also said the Baltimore and Washington metropolitan areas have the lowest unemployment rates among major urban areas.

"I don't think we fully appreciate how rough things are out there for the rest of people," Basu said.

He predicted that next year's economy will show moderate improvement, though it's too early to say if inflation will be problematic. He also said U.S. unemployment is likely to peak above 10 percent, as taxes are likely to rise while Bush-era tax cuts lapse.

O'Malley presented the Visit Maryland Award to Delmarva Low Impact Tourism Experiences for its "Host Our Coast" program, which paid two young people to set up shop on the Lower Shore and post blog items and videos about their outdoor adventures all summer.

O'Malley also mentioned Thursday how the state's current budget was crafted with the intention of protecting dollars earmarked for tourism marketing. "We took cuts to a greater degree on the statewide things so that the destination marketing would be less impacted," he said.

"And I can tell you this," O'Malley added. "As long as I'm governor, you'll never see me take one dime or one dollar of your tourism promotion ads to put pictures of my wife and kids on TV, or me. You know, campaigns are campaigns. These dollars are precious to you, they're precious to our economy. We might have fewer of them, but every single dime goes to promoting your industry."

Former governor Robert Ehrlich during his 2003-2007 term starred in state tourism advertisements on radio and television. Ehrlich, a Republican who lost the 2006 election to O'Malley, is said to be mulling another State House run for 2010.

When asked, O'Malley later denied that his comment was a jab at Ehrlich.

"No, it was more underscoring that we made a commitment that we'd use all the dollars to promote tourism, and not for political purposes," he said. "And that's what we've done. We've stuck to that commitment."