SONOMA COUNTY -- The Sonoma County Tourism Bureau will act as a local liaison for a statewide campaign that tracks how tourism dollars are spent in effort to underscore the importance of such spending in local economies.The “Spend Tom” program, which draws its name from Thomas Jefferson, will distribute $25,000 in marked two-dollar bills at various tourism-related spots around Sonoma County, the bureau said. Each bill will be marked with www.spendtom.com, and consumers who end up with the bills can go the Web site and indicate where they received or spent the bills. By entering the information on the Web site, consumers will be entered into a drawing for California vacations.In 2009, the county tourism bureau said it was the first organization chosen by the California Travel and Tourism Commission to test the program. Over 400 people received the bills and reported bills traveling as far as New York, Florida and Hawaii, according to the bureau.
