SEATTLE — An alluring billboard beckoned to motorists on a busy industrial corridor here this spring. It displayed just one image, a panoramic view of a valley and mountains and sunshine, and one word, “Montana.”

Who paid for that advertisement? The State of Montana, naturally, out of money it designated for tourism marketing this year.

“They’ve done a great job, and they’re incredibly visible,” said Tom Norwalk, the president and chief executive of Seattle’s Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We’re not doing that. We’re going to be fortunate in the next six months to be able to maintain a Web site.”

Washington State has plenty of beauty of its own, of course, but it will not be paying for billboards featuring Puget Sound or Mount Rainier or the Space Needle anytime soon. This month, as a result of wide-ranging budget cuts passed this year by the Democratic-controlled Legislature, Washington became the only state in the nation with no statewide tourism office and no state money to promote itself to travelers.