The city of Salem has been awarded $56,278 from the Virginia Tourism Corporation for the remainder of this calendar year, according to an announcement made last week by the city. Salem has now received a total of 12 different grants from VTC since 2020 totaling $186,278.
These latest funds will be used for three specific purposes in the city. One of the $20,000 grants will be used to ramp up marketing in areas beyond southwest Virginia for Salem sporting events like CIAA football and various NCAA championships. Another $18,278 award will be designated to hiking, biking and enjoying the outdoors in Virginia’s Blue Ridge. The marketing will target folks in Hampton Roads, Richmond and Washington D.C. The final $18,000 grant will be used to attract visitors to the Salem Fair and to various historical attractions in the area.
“The city feels very fortunate to receive three grants of this magnitude,” said Carey Harveycutter, Salem’s tourism director. “This funding is a big reason why we are able to provide first-class events and opportunities for not only residents in the valley but also for visitors who make Virginia’s Blue Ridge a destination.”
In all, the Virginia Tourism Corporation awarded more than $3.27 million to 268 local and regional marketing programs. The goal is to help increase visitation and revenue for Virginia’s localities across the state.
“VTC’s marketing and sponsorship programs are powerful incentives creating tourism partnerships across Virginia that are a robust part of Virginia’s economic ecosystem,” said Gov. Glenn Youngkin. “Across the commonwealth, the tourism industry recognizes the importance of having inventive strategies to showcase all that Virginia has to offer. These grants will support those efforts and help draw thousands of additional visitors to the commonwealth to experience everything that makes Virginia so special.”
These funding programs are designed to leverage local marketing dollars with matching state funds to increase visitation and traveler spending through 2025. This funding cycle, local partners will commit more than $9.2 million to match the VTC funding, providing more than $12.5 million in new marketing and event production activity focused on increasing overnight visitation to Virginia across all nine GO Virginia regions.
“The VTC grant programs continue to inject critical funds into communities across the Commonwealth, helping to make Virginia the best place to live, work, and raise a family,” said Secretary of Commerce and Trade Caren Merrick. “The tourism industry in an incredible employment on-ramp for high school and college students, part time workers, and those interested long-term hospitality careers.”
-The Salem Times-Register
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