The Patrick County Tourism Department has received $10,000 from the Virginia Tourism Corporation’s (VTC) Recovery Marketing Leverage Program (RMLP), designed to help local and regional tourism entities attract more visitors by leveraging limited local marketing dollars through a local match of the state grants funds.
More than $1.9 million in matching grant funds were awarded to 161 local tourism initiatives through this program. This funding cycle, local partners will provide more than $5.6 million in-kind value to match the VTC grants. The grants will ultimately impact 483 statewide tourism entities.
The Tourism Department will use the VTC Recovery Marketing Leverage grant funds to focus on updating signage for various hiking trails in the county. Marketing and promotion of the trails will be implemented as well. Especially now during COVID-19, people are searching for green spaces, this is the perfect time to give the trails some much needed attention. With the Trail H.A.N.D.S. sculptures at five trail heads, this new initiative will bring even more promotion to our trails.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the tourism and hospitality industries in Virginia. As the Commonwealth slowly reopens for business, VTC offered these grant funds as a first step to re-entry into the marketplace to spur economic activity and future travel across the Commonwealth of Virginia.
“The Tourism Advisory Council and the Tourism Department are grateful to area tourism related businesses and lodging entities for their hard work, innovative thinking, and dedication during these trying times,” said Sandra Belcher, director of Patrick County Tourism.
Gov. Ralph Northam said “Tourism is a crucial section of the Virginia economy and when we invest in this industry, we support local job creation and drive regional economic growth, which is desperately needed now due to the pandemic. These funds give localities and businesses access to critical marketing resources that will help bring more travelers to our Commonwealth, increase visitor spending, and grow demand for Virginia products.”
Tourism is one of the Commonwealth’s largest economic engines, with visitors to Patrick County spending nearly $30 million in 2019, supporting 279 work opportunities and contributing $2,495,760 in local and state tax revenue. The tourism and hospitality industries have also been among the hardest-hit by the pandemic, experiencing decreased revenue and job loss, along with the temporary closure of many tourism-related businesses. A revived tourism economy can help spur new economic activity and inject critical funds back into Virginia communities.
By law, the Tourism Advisory Council and the Tourism Department market Patrick County’s’ many assets such as hiking trails, lodging entities, the Blue Ridge Parkway, tourism related businesses, Fairy Stone State Park, historical sites, and others by using the 5 percent lodging tax charged to overnight travelers. By promoting the county’s assets and drawing visitors to the county, visitor spending and the county economy rises. County taxpayer dollars are not used for marketing promotion.
The Virginia Tourism Corporation is the state agency charged with marketing the Commonwealth as a premier travel and film destination. In 2019, visitors to Virginia spent $27 billion, which supported 237,000 work opportunities and contributed $1.8 billion in state and local taxes. To learn more, visit virginia.org.
Patrick County’s Tourism Department will use VTC grant funds to help update signs on various hiking trails, market and promote trails and other efforts. Combined with the Trail H.A.N.D.S. sculptures (one is pictured) at various trail heads, this new marketing initiative will highlight area trails even more, officials said. (Contributed photo)
