Courtesy photo
Courtesy of Sharon Bochman
Aila Boyd
aboyd@mainstreetnewspapers.com
The City of Salem has received $10,000 from the Virginia Tourism Corporation’s Microbusiness Marketing Leverage Program. The grant funds will be used to spotlight Downtown Salem businesses January through April of 2024.
“The city has been very fortunate to benefit from a number of these grants in the past few years,” Carey Harveycutter, Salem’s tourism director, said. “We try to make everything we do in Salem a championship-caliber event and this funding is a big reason why we are able to accomplish that goal for our visitors and residents.”
Salem has received a total of nine grants from the Virginia Tourism Corporation since 2020 totaling $130,000. For this round of awards, the Virginia Tourism Corporation awarded more than $757,000 to 131 marketing programs, ultimately impacting 655 combined partners, and supporting more than 1,300 jobs across the state to help increase off-season visitation to tourism businesses and destinations.
“These programs will help bring in year-round overnight visitation which will support small businesses and jobs in localities across Virginia,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said. “In 2022, the tourism industry supported more than 210,000 jobs in Virginia and travelers spent over $83 million per day in Virginia, and we will continue to grow thanks to these programs.”
The VTC Microbusiness Marketing Leverage Program is designed to increase visitor spending in the off-season by leveraging limited marketing dollars, stimulating new tourism marketing through partnerships, and extending the “Virginia is for Lovers” brand. This is a program focused on supporting tourism businesses with less than 20 full time employees through marketing partnerships. A minimum of five Virginia entities must partner to apply for the microbusiness marketing grant. Partners may consist of Virginia cities, towns, counties, convention and visitors’ bureaus, chambers of commerce, other local or regional destination marketing organizations, private businesses, museums, attractions, cultural events and other tourism-related businesses.
“This program is part of VTC’s strategy to grow year-round visitation in Virginia and is designed to support small tourism businesses with marketing dollars to drive out-of-state visitation during off-peak travel seasons.” Rita McClenny, president and CEO of Virginia Tourism Corporation, said. “We are excited about this program because we see it as a gateway for small businesses to engage with our marketing and grow.”
Magical Mystery Bike Tours, LLC in nearby Roanoke County also received a $5,000 grant through the program. The company is owned by Sharon Bochman, an eastern Virginia native who relocated to the area several years ago. The company offers “adventure, exploration and a chance to see unique places, small towns, and breathtaking vistas while riding your bicycle in Virginia.” Bochman said the money will be used to help market the business.
