RICHMOND, VIRGINIA — Governor Terry McAuliffe announced yesterday that the Shenandoah Beerwerks Trail received $50,000 from the Virginia Tourism Corporation Marketing Leverage Program grant fund.
The objectives of the Shenandoah Beerwerks Trail initiative are to use the experience of craft beer as a driver for new visits, to co-promote the Valley’s amazing outdoor and tourism assets, and leverage the power of a collective advertising and outreach program.
“We are very excited about this grant, because we can greatly expand how we promote our region. The Shenandoah Valley’s craft beer scene is likely to continue in its expansion and with it we expect to see continued growth of the craft beer market as a pull for visitors,” said Sheryl Wagner, spokesperson for the Trail.
“We see this as a strategic tourism investment that builds off the booming craft beer industry,” adds Wagner.
“We want to give travelers a new reason to choose our region as their preferred destination, visit the local breweries, taste the great beer we have on tap, and then go back to their communities and spread the word about us a fun destination.”
“Research tells us that today’s visitors desire authentic, interactive experiences combined with multiple-destination proximity. We think the Beerwerks Trail provides a new way showcase one of the fastest growing attractions in our market to a slightly younger demographic – who also love the great outdoors, music festivals, farmer’s markers, and exploring vibrant, walkable main street communities,” says Wagner.
“Tourists may initially choose to come for the brewery experience, but they’ll also explore our region, eat in our local restaurants and stay overnight. It’s a win-win for everyone.”
The grant will help support targeted print, digital, and social media marketing of the trail over the next fiscal year.
A collaborative group of destination marketing organizations partnered to apply for the $50,000 grant and supply matching funds for the project. They are the City of Staunton, Augusta County, the City of Waynesboro, Harrisonburg Tourism, and Lexington & The Rockbridge Area Tourism.
In total, VTC awarded $927,000 for 43 tourism marketing projects across the state to help increase visitation and revenue for Virginia’s localities through tourism. The grants are designed to help local and regional tourism entities attract more visitors by leveraging local marketing dollars, and will ultimately impact at least 159 other statewide tourism entities. The local organizations match the state grant funds by a minimum of 2:1 in order to support marketing projects.
Every VTC dollar invested in grants resulted in $16 of direct visitor spending. Marketing campaigns that received Marketing Leverage Grants increased visitation by 15%.
About the VTC Marketing Leverage Program
The VTC Marketing Leverage Program is designed to stimulate new tourism marketing through partnerships by leveraging limited marketing dollars, resulting in increased visitor spending. A minimum of three entities must partner financially to apply and 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.
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