Chattooga Chamber Awarded Discover Georgia Tourism Restoration Advertising Grant

The Chattooga Chamber announced today that it has received a Tourism Recovery Marketing Grant from Explore Georgia, the state tourism bureau of the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD). The Explore Georgia Tourism Recovery Marketing Grant program supports marketing efforts to aid the recovery of Georgia’s tourism industry from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Chattooga Chamber was part of 34 tourism companies in 27 counties that received nearly $ 1.5 million in recovery marketing funding through this one-time grant program.

Governor Kemp and the Georgia General Assembly approved $ 1 million in the FY21 revised budget for tourism recovery. Due to the significant number of grant applications – from 58 organizations totaling nearly $ 2.5 million in funding applications – Explore Georgia contributed an additional $ 1 million from the state tourism marketing budget to fund as many grants as possible. The Explore Georgia Tourism Recovery Marketing program also includes $ 500,000 in cooperative matching funds for a total of $ 2 million in recovery assistance.

The Chattooga Chamber, which acts as the marketing arm for the entire county, including the tourist attractions, venues, community events and outdoor recreational activities, presents the following marketing plan for 2021-2022. Our mission is to promote the common interest of our members, fuel the expanding regional economy and improve the quality of life for all. Our goal for this marketing plan is to improve the tourism economy footprint by promoting our attractions and businesses.

We have our Big 3 attractions: Sloppy Floyd State Park, Howard Finster’s Paradise Garden and Summerville’s Historic Depot & Turntable with Main Street events and train excursions. Other attractions include kayaking launches on the Chattooga River, the Trade Day flea market, and parks in each of our four communities.

“We are excited about this opportunity to enhance our promotion of Chattooga County, our businesses and everything we have to offer,” said Sole Commissioner Blake Elsberry.

“Georgia is a beautiful state and while we continue to recover, I look forward to working with our industrial partners to bring the incredible tourism benefits of the state to travelers around the world.” said Pat Wilson, Commissioner of the GDEcD. “These grants are an important tool for our industry organizations, most of which are small businesses, to begin their recovery efforts. We are committed to rebuilding the travel and tourism sectors across our state as Georgia’s diverse economy cannot fully recover until our tourism and hospitality industries are flourishing again. “

The Explore Georgia Tourism Recovery Marketing Grant Program is designed to support areas of the state hardest hit by the decline in tourism and fund promotional activities to aid the travel industry’s recovery in 2021 from the greatest impact of visitor loss and its resulting Tourism spending during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As we head into a summer where we anticipate a tremendous resurgence in domestic tourism and the economic prosperity that travel brings, funding for these grants recognizes the importance of delivering the diversity of visitor experiences across Georgia that are so Many Americans are close to home “, said Mark Jaronski, Deputy Tourism Officer of GDEcD. “With a great collaboration with our destination marketing partners across the state, we believe we can be most effective in what is likely to be an incredibly competitive landscape by jointly promoting Georgia to the American public and complementing the Ready state’s tourism recovery campaign. To adjust. Georgia.”

Applications were assessed based on needs, quantified by the annual loss in hotel-motel excise tax surveys for the organization and the change in unemployment in the organization’s district. Scholarship holders received 100% of the requested funding.

###

Via Chattooga Chamber
The Chattooga Chamber’s mission is to advance the common interest of our members, fuel the expanding regional economy, and improve the quality of life for all. We achieve our goals by working within the community in all areas: business, industry, government, tourism and outreach organizations. We connect our membership with the tools and resources necessary for success, and we fully support and direct economic development in Chattooga County.

Explore over Georgia
Explore Georgia, the tourism division of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, is the state’s official destination marketing organization. Headquartered in Atlanta, nine visitor information centers across Georgia, and a network of tourism representatives around the world, Explore Georgia inspires travel in and within the state through marketing programs developed and operated in conjunction with the state’s travel industry. The department works to advance Georgia’s tourism industry, which represents $ 69 billion and supported more than 484,000 jobs in 2019ExploreGeorgia.org.

About GDEcD
The Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) is the state’s sales and marketing arm, the premier agency for attracting new business investment, promoting the expansion of existing industries and small businesses, opening up new markets for Georgia products, attracting tourists to Georgia and the promotion of the state as an arts destination and location for film, music and digital entertainment projects as well as the planning and mobilization of state resources for economic development. visit www.georgia.org for more informations.