Waynesboro Receives Virginia Tourism Corporation Grant for Tourism Marketing
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: May 22, 2024
CONTACT NAME: Stephanie Duffy
PHONE: (540) 942-6644
EMAIL: Duffyss@ci.waynesboro.va.us
Waynesboro Receives Virginia Tourism Corporation Grant for Tourism Marketing
Waynesboro, VA – Governor Glenn Youngkin announced that Waynesboro received $16,000 from the Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC) Virginia DMO Grant Program. In total, VTC awarded more than $3.27 million for 268 local and regional tourism marketing programs across the state to help increase visitation and revenue for Virginia’s localities through tourism.
Waynesboro received a $16,000 grant for “Waynesboro’s Art Doesn’t Just Hang in Galleries.” This comprehensive marketing campaign is aimed at promoting the vibrant street art scene in Waynesboro, and attracting tourists from diverse regions to experience the city’s cultural offerings. A key component of this initiative is development of a Waynesboro app through Visit Widget, a user-friendly platform designed to showcase Waynesboro’s Street Arts Trail with interactive map features, artist profiles, and information on nearby attractions, providing visitors with a seamless experience for exploring the city’s art scene.
VTC’s tourism marketing and sponsorship programs are designed to increase visitor spending by leveraging limited marketing dollars, to stimulate new tourism marketing through partnerships, and to extend the “Virginia is for Lovers” brand to drive visitation. Using the hub and spoke tourism partnership model, Virginia entities partner to apply for funding. Partners may consist of Virginia cities, towns, counties, convention and visitors’ bureaus, chambers of commerce, other local or regional destination marketing organizations, museums, attractions, cultural events, and other tourism-related non-profits and tourism-oriented businesses. More information on VTC’s Grant Programs can be found at vatc.org/grants.
“We’re really excited to have received these grant funds to help promote the Streets Arts Trail, which currently has twenty stops, including some iconic and award-winning murals,” said Stephanie Duffy, Project Manager for Waynesboro Economic Development & Tourism. “With this initiative, we hope to position Waynesboro as a premier destination for art enthusiasts and tourists, with a particular focus on attracting overnight and out of region visitors.”
“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 Governor 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.”
“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 is an incredible employment on-ramp for high school and college students, part-time workers, and those interested long-term hospitality careers. From kitchen line cooks to regional executive hotel managers, these funds support a robust hospitality workforce by inducing tourism demand and increasing overnight visitation.”
For more information on Waynesboro, go to www.VisitWaynesboro.com.
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