Gov. Mark Sanford wants to put a significant sum of money into advertising the state to tourists. He's right to do so.

The money would be used to spread the good news about our coast, our wonderful state parks in the mountains and our great Greenville downtown -- among many other attractions. Sanford will ask legislators to increase state marketing funding by $13.5 million to boost South Carolina's presence in national magazines and in other media.

But it's money that should pay off handsomely in terms of more tourism dollars coming to the state. A recent report by Tourism Development International shows tourism could contribute $40 billion yearly to South Carolina's gross state product by 2020 if the state spends more on marketing, Sanford said in a news release.

Tourism is the state's No. 1 industry. It's prudent to invest more money in promoting South Carolina's appeal as a vacation destination.

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The TDI report said that tourism contributes $10.9 billion annually to South Carolina's gross state product but that less than one-fifth of 1 percent of the state's earnings from tourism is reinvested into promoting the industry, according to Sanford's news release.

In the overall state budget of more than $6 billion, the added money is modest but it still represents a bold move by Sanford. It would boost marketing funding by 50 percent at a time when Sanford has pledged to hold most state spending to inflationary levels of a few percentage points at most.