Waynesboro Receives Virginia Tourism Corporation Recovery Marketing Leverage Grant

Waynesboro, VA – Waynesboro Tourism 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 $860,000 in matching grant funds were awarded to 64 local tourism initiatives through this program. This funding cycle, local partners will provide more than $2.2 million in-kind marketing value to match the VTC grants. The grants will ultimately impact 384 statewide tourism entities. The RMLP is designed to increase visitor spending by stimulating new tourism marketing through partnerships and extending the “Virginia is for Lovers” brand.

Waynesboro will use the grant funds to design and print a new Visitor Guide, commission new photography, and continue to market Waynesboro as a desirable tourist destination. The new Visitor Guide will utilize strong new imagery to drive people to the tourism website, and ultimately to drive visitation to Waynesboro. The current Visitor Guide was printed in 2019 and became outdated quickly with the onset of the pandemic. A new, condensed design will give people a teaser of what they could experience in Waynesboro, and invite them to visit the tourism website to find more details, trip ideas, and a calendar of events.

“We are grateful to VTC for the ongoing support through grant funding, and we are excited to use this grant to produce a much-needed refresh of our Visitor Guide,” says Jennifer Callison, Tourism and Marketing Manager for the City of Waynesboro. “The grant also affords us the opportunity to market Waynesboro to a larger audience, which will help drive recovery from the pandemic.”

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 and hospitality industries have been among the hardest-hit by the pandemic, experiencing decreased revenue and job loss, along with the temporary closure of many tourism-related businesses,” said Governor Ralph Northam. “These funds will help to revive Virginia’s tourism economy, which will help spur new economic activity and inject critical funds back into its communities.”

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