Press Release

Lieutenant Governor Bolling Announces Tourism Marketing Grant for Regional Tourism Web Site

Local tourism partnership secures $25,000 grant for first centralized online booking engine for Fredericksburg region

Ibbie Hedrick
804-225-2487
ibbie.hedrick@ltgov.virginia.gov

Monday, September 20, 2010

Fredericksburg - Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling traveled to Fredericksburg today to announce a $25,000 tourism marketing grant to promote VacationFredericksburg.com, the first centralized online source through which visitors can book vacation trips to the Fredericksburg region. The grant from the Virginia Tourism Corporation is designed to assist local and regional tourism entities to leverage local marketing dollars. The successful grant application was a partnership between the City of Fredericksburg Office of Tourism and Business Development, the Stafford County Office of Economic Development and Tourism and the Greater Fredericksburg Tourism Partnership. The local partners provided a $50,000 match for the grant, making a total of $75,000 available to market the new web site.

"Tourism is big business in Virginia, contributing more than $19 billion to our state's economy every year," said Lieutenant Governor Bolling. "The VTC marketing grants are designed to help local communities promote their unique tourism attractions. This grant will help the Fredericksburg region, which is rich in history, tell its unique story far and wide and bring more visitors to local hotels, restaurants, shops and tourist attractions."

The Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC) Marketing Leverage Program is designed to stimulate new tourism marketing through partnerships and to extend the Virginia is for Lovers brand. The objective of this program is to leverage limited marketing dollars, resulting in increased visitor spending. A minimum of three entities must partner financially to apply. Partners may consist of Virginia towns, cities, counties, convention and visitors bureaus, chambers of commerce, other local or regional destination marketing organizations, private businesses, museums, attractions, cultural events, and other not-for-profit entities. In total, VTC awards approximately $1 million annually - matched and leveraged on average three to one by partner dollars - to more than 80 communities across the Commonwealth.

"The Fredericksburg region has everything visitors are looking for," said Alisa Bailey, president and CEO of the Virginia Tourism Corporation. "This new online booking engine will further simplify planning a vacation to the region and help increase the number of visitors that take advantage of all there is to see and do in the area."
VacationFredericksburg.com will enable visitors to plan and book vacations to the Fredericksburg region using one simple online tool. It will also provide local attractions with an affordable mechanism through which to sell tours and admission tickets online with greatly increased exposure. The program's technology enables the Greater Fredericksburg Tourism Partnership to maintain a competitive online presence for domestic and international leisure travelers and increase visitor spending for the region.

Tourism generates $19.2 billion in revenue for Virginia, supports 210,000 jobs and provides $1.28 billion in state and local taxes for communities.

For more information about visiting the Fredericksburg area and travel and tourism in Virginia, visit www.Virginia.org or call 1-800-VISITVA to request a free Virginia is for Lovers travel guide.

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For additional information contact Ibbie Hedrick at 804-225-2487 or ibbie.hedrick@ltgov.virginia.gov.