The Virginia General Assembly has approved a $50 million American Rescue Plan Act appropriation to VTC, of which $30 million will be directed to statewide destination marketing organizations through their local government. These organizations serve as the chief marketing agencies for each destination, helping to drive increased visitation and revenue generation. This appropriation supports the statewide tourism industry with continued recovery efforts.

VTC is developing the Virginia Tourism Recovery Program (VTRP) that will provide recovery funds to the 133 Virginia counties and cities for tourism marketing. These funds are essential and necessary to cover costs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Available funds will be allocated to each county and independent city based on the relative share of the locality to total state tax revenue. The program will be administered by a third-party business management service that specializes in disaster funding programs, along with VTC providing oversight and serving as a liaison to Virginia localities and DMOs.

More information will be available soon to include application and program details.