Highland County Receives Virginia Tourism Corporation Grant for Tourism Marketing

The Highland County Chamber of Commerce received a $10,000 grant from the Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC)’s Microbusiness Marketing Leverage Program (MMLP) for its marketing program of “Virginia’s Least Populous County Welcomes You!”

Virginia Tourism Corporation awarded more than $757,000 to 131 marketing programs, ultimately impacting 655 combined partners, and supporting more than 1,300 jobs across the state to help increase off-season visitation to tourism businesses and destinations.

“The Highland County Chamber of Commerce is pleased to be awarded this grant for the first time in order to highlight locally-owned lodging, restaurants, shops, and events that give visitors a memorable experience,” said Executive Director Chris Swecker. “Highland County is going through an upward trajectory of interesting and one-of-a-kind businesses and nonprofits in our community, and we want as many people as possible to know that even though we are small, we have so much to offer. Our marketing campaign will reach out to travelers with strategic print and digital advertising, including in Richmond Magazine’s RVA Traveler, Blue Ridge Outdoors, the 2024 Virginia Travel Guide, and Facebook ads.”

“The Microbusiness Marketing Leverage Program is part of VTC’s strategy to grow year-round visitation in Virginia and is designed to support small tourism businesses with marketing dollars to drive out-of-state visitation during off-peak travel seasons. We are excited about this program because we see it as a gateway for small businesses to engage with VTC’s marketing and development ecosystem to grow their business and build on the Virginia is for Lovers branding,” said Rita McClenny, President and CEO of Virginia Tourism Corporation.

The VTC Microbusiness Marketing Leverage Program is designed to increase visitor spending in the off-season by leveraging limited marketing dollars, stimulating new tourism marketing through partnerships, and extending the “Virginia is for Lovers” brand. This is a program focused on supporting tourism businesses with less than 20 full-time employees through marketing partnerships. A minimum of five Virginia entities must partner to apply for the microbusiness marketing grant. Partners may consist of Virginia cities, towns, counties, convention and visitors’ bureaus, chambers of commerce, other local or regional destination marketing organizations, private businesses, museums, attractions, cultural events, and other tourism-related businesses.

For more information about Highland County, including a Chamber Membership Directory, Community Events Calendar, and Things to Do List, visit www.highlandcounty.org.