With its $2 million share of the last two years’ casino cash revenues just a signature away, John Percy and the rest of the Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp. staff are ready to start thinking ahead.

Rather than fitting in what trade shows, advertising campaigns and promotional efforts they can fit into a roughly $1.5 million budget with an uncertain future, the NTCC’s new president said the agency is looking to bring back a successful campaign and keep it alive years into the future.

“We’re in the position now where we can get a consistent, repetitive message out to people, as Orlando or Vegas has been able to do so successfully,” Percy said. “We’ve still been able to keep up a general awareness, but without a repetitive presence of three years or more, we haven’t been able to make our real impact.”

Along with expanding the “Great American Getaway” campaign into television and international markets, the funds could also enable staff additions and greater outreach to tourism operators.

Under a deal agreed to Thursday by Gov. George Pataki’s office and leaders in the state Assembly and Senate, $2 million of a total $23.9 million in slot machine revenue from the Seneca Niagara Casino will go to the NTCC. The less than four-year-old agency received $1 million in slots revenue during its first year of operation in 2003, but has not received any since.

Uncertainty over funding caused its first president, David Rosenwasser, to leave for a job in Missouri earlier this month. Percy, a former vice president of sales and marketing, had been ready to take a position with the Fashion Outlets of Niagara Falls in late March, before he agreed to take a consolidated position of president and CEO, effectively eliminating his old job.

If Pataki signs off on the two-year deal, along with an agreement to hold the revenue shares in place for the next 11 years, the NTCC’s first move will likely be to pay back last year’s loan of $550,000 and interest to the city of Niagara Falls, which loaned the money out of a transportation fund.

Mayor Vince Anello said the loan was used effectively by the NTCC, and he expects greater benefits with a signed casino cash deal.

“We fully believe that we have to advertise this city, and they’ve done a very good job of it with what they had,” Anello said. “With a longer reach, we’re expecting an even better return for our businesses.”

The NTCC had intended on going to the city for an additional $250,000 to launch a radio-only campaign in nearby areas including Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Erie, Penn., starting this week, but that money will now be pulled from the incoming funds, Percy said.

The tourism agency’s “Great American Getaway” campaign in 2003 was deemed a success by area officials and hotels. Percy said his year-end presentation from that period showed a benefit of $29 for every $1 spent on the magazine, billboard and media blitz.

The intermittent work done by the NTCC since funding uncertainties started in 2004 have still had an impact. The average room rate from January through May of this year was $72.80, up from $62.40 during the same period in 2005, according to data from Smith Travel Research, and hotel occupancy has been up of late.

“If we can get room rates and revenue per room up in the slow season using what we have, that’s an indication that we’ve started in the right place,” Percy said.

If the agency’s board approves, the NTCC could add four or five full-time staff — mostly in sales — to its current roster of 10 full-time and 14 part-time. Doing so, Percy said, would allow each representative to concentrate further in their particular markets — honeymooners, tour operators and other segments.

And the agency could also move toward using casino revenues mainly for marketing and outreach efforts, while the remaining $1.5 million of its budget, taken from hotel bed taxes, could be set down for staff and office costs.

Thomas J. Kraus, president and CEO of the Niagara USA Chamber, said it was “unconscionable” that the casino revenues took two years to reach one of its prime beneficiaries. But he said the NTCC should be able to pick up where it left off.

“They had a good campaign (in 2003), and we’re certainly pleased that the money will be there to continue it,” Kraus said. “For our members that rely on tourism, all the hotels in the area, this certainly should be good news.”