March 16, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Matt Turner
304-558-2288, ext. 341
mturner@callwva.com

Advertising just got easier for West Virginia’s tourism businesses
Seminars designed to teach about new grants program

SOUTH CHARLESTON – The West Virginia Legislature last week passed House Bill 4233, which creates new tourism grant rules that give small tourism businesses more opportunities to receive advertising money.

The new rules create a Cooperative Tourism Promotion Fund (CTPF, tourism advertising grants) category that requires applicants to provide only 25 percent of the money toward an ad campaign that costs as much as $10,000. The CTPF would provide the remaining 75 percent in this plan, which replaces the previous $2,500 matching grant category.

All other grants administered by the West Virginia Tourism Commission remain 50-50 matching grants.

Because of this and other important changes, the Division of Tourism is traveling across West Virginia March 23 through April 6 to help explain the new rules to tourism businesses, said Tourism Commissioner Betty Carver. Grants program administrators and the tourism agency’s internal auditor will explain how to apply for the new grants and help the business owners and visitors bureau staff members understand the rules for eligibility, she said.

“Hundreds of small business owners and virtually all the state’s visitors bureaus have benefited from millions of advertising dollars through our grant program the last 10 years or so,” Carver said. “The new 25-75 [percent contribution to percent matching] grant category makes the grant program even more accessible for small businesses and we hope will help us reach more tourists.

“We’re really excited about its potential, but it’s important that the tourism industry understand the new rules that go along with it.”

The “Tourism Road Show” will visit all nine of the state’s designated travel regions. Directors from each of the Division of Tourism’s sections – marketing, grants, public relations, research, welcome centers – will join the grants administrators in explaining the assistance they can provide to the tourism industry. A detailed schedule including locations follows this page.

“The new grant category is the most-pressing issue we need to share with our industry partners but we’re also representing all facets of the Division of Tourism,” Carver said. “This is an opportunity for tourism businesses, the public and the media to visit with us in their backyards. We want to show them what services we offer and for them to ask questions and help us learn how we can get more people to their destinations.”

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Editor’s note: More details about the grant program are available on the Division of Tourism’s web site, www.wvtourism.com. Click on the “Grants” link under the “Industry Information” tab.

2006 TOURISM ROAD SHOW SCHEDULE

Thursday, March 23 -- Potomac Highlands, Blackwater Falls State Park, 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.

Friday, March 24 -- Eastern Panhandle, Holiday Inn Martinsburg, 10 a.m. – Noon

Tuesday, March 28 -- New River/Greenbrier Valley, Glade Springs Resort, 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.

Thursday, March 30 -- Hatfield-McCoy Mountains, Chief Logan State Park, 10 a.m. – Noon

Monday, April 3 -- Metro Valley, Putnam Community Center, Hurricane, 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.

Tuesday, April 4 -- Mid-Ohio Valley, Cedar Lakes, Ripley, 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.

Wednesday, April 5 -- Northern Panhandle, Wheeling Island Racetrack & Gaming, 9 a.m. – 11 a.m.

Wednesday, April 5 -- Mountaineer Country, Hi-Tech Consortium, Fairmont, 3 p.m. – 5 p.m.

Thursday, April 6 -- Mountain Lakes, Jackson’s Mill, Weston, 10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.