Gov. Bob McDonnell
Gov. Bob McDonnell announced Monday the latest round of tourism grants throughout the state, with a group that operates in the Historic Triangle set to receive one out of 42 of the grants.
The sole recipient in the Historic Triangle in this round of grants is the Virginia Arts Festival. That festival takes place throughout Hampton Roads, with performances in the Historic Triangle such as Festival Williamsburg, an event that brings together performers from a variety of disciplines for several shows over Memorial Day weekend.
The other 41 grants have been awarded to groups outside the Historic Triangle, stretching across Virginia.
Virginia Arts Festival staff members will use the $50,000 from the state and matching local funds to bolster the festival’s digital presence. Executive Director Rob Cross said he wants to use the money to boost the festival’s online advertising and outreach on social media.
“We did a lot of research with Virginia Tourism Corporation, and their research showed more people are booking their trips and buying tickets to events online as opposed to going to box offices or making phone calls to the box offices or the attractions,” Cross said.
The grants are part of VTC’s Marketing Leverage Grant program. That program is designed to help local and regional tourism entities bring more visitors by leveraging local marketing dollars, according to a news release from McDonnell’s office.
The release touted the benefits of tourism for Virginia’s bottom line — in 2011, tourism generated $20,4 billion in revenue, supported 207,000 jobs and provided $1.32 billion in state and local taxes. Money invested in tourism provides a 5:1 return in tax revenue for the state.
VTC releases new grants twice a year. In the last round of grants, the Greater Williamsburg Chamber & Tourism Alliance received $25,000 to market Williamsburg Arts Month, the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation got $25,000 for America’s Historic Triangle Marketing Program and the Traditions Golf Club at Stonehouse received $5,000 for its Traditional Golf Trail 2014 promotion.