![\"PJJ_9292_small\"](\"https:\/\/beerwerkstrail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/PJJ_9292_small.jpg\")
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.<\/p>\nRICHMOND, VIRGINIA — Governor Terry McAuliffe announced yesterday that the Shenandoah Beerwerks Trail received $50,000 from the Virginia Tourism Corporation Marketing Leverage Program grant fund.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0objectives of the\u00a0Shenandoah Beerwerks Trail initiative are to\u00a0use the experience of craft beer as a driver for new\u00a0visits, to co-promote the\u00a0Valley\u2019s amazing outdoor and tourism\u00a0assets, and\u00a0leverage the power of a collective advertising and outreach\u00a0program.<\/p>\n
“We are very excited about this grant, because\u00a0we can greatly expand\u00a0how we promote\u00a0our\u00a0region. The\u00a0Shenandoah 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.<\/p>\n
“We see this as a strategic tourism investment that builds off the\u00a0booming craft beer industry,” adds Wagner.<\/p>\n
“We\u00a0want to give travelers a new reason to choose our\u00a0region 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.”<\/p>\n
“Research tells us that\u00a0today\u2019s visitors desire authentic, interactive experiences combined\u00a0with multiple-destination proximity. We think the\u00a0Beerwerks Trail provides a\u00a0new way\u00a0showcase one of the fastest growing attractions in our market\u00a0to a slightly younger demographic – who also love the great outdoors, music festivals, farmer’s markers,\u00a0and exploring\u00a0vibrant, walkable main street communities,” says Wagner.<\/p>\n
“Tourists may initially choose to come for the brewery experience, but they’ll also explore our region,\u00a0eat in our local restaurants and stay overnight. It’s a win-win for everyone.”<\/p>\n
The grant will help support targeted print, digital, and social media marketing\u00a0of the trail over the next fiscal year.<\/p>\n
A collaborative group of destination marketing organizations\u00a0partnered to apply for the $50,000 grant and supply matching funds for the project. They are the\u00a0City of Staunton,\u00a0Augusta County, the\u00a0City of Waynesboro,\u00a0Harrisonburg Tourism, and\u00a0Lexington & The Rockbridge Area Tourism.<\/p>\n
In total, VTC awarded $927,000 for 43 tourism marketing projects across the state to help increase visitation and revenue for Virginia\u2019s localities through tourism.\u00a0The 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.<\/p>\n
Every VTC dollar invested in grants resulted in $16 of direct visitor spending. Marketing campaigns that received Marketing Leverage Grants increased visitation by 15%.<\/p>\n
About the <\/strong>VTC Marketing Leverage Program<\/strong><\/p>\n The VTC Marketing Leverage Program is designed to stimulate new tourism marketing through partnerships by leveraging limited marketing dollars, resulting in increased visitor spending.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n ###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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\u00a0objectives of the\u00a0Shenandoah Beerwerks Trail […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n