Tourism program boosted by $10,000 grant

A regional tourism partnership has won a $10,000 grant for a new program designed to get tourists to spend more time and money in the Lynchburg area.

The new program, called “Give Me 5,” would encourage visitors to visit at least five attractions in the Lynchburg area to complete a “regional passport.” They would be entered into a drawing for $500.

Give Me 5 was designed by a partnership between Lynchburg city and the counties of Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford and Campbell. To enter the drawing for the $500, tourists must visit at least one site in each locality.

“It will help push visitors that are coming to any one of the five localities into the other four, where they may have not done that before,” said Beckie Nix, tourism director for the Lynchburg Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Nix said the program would give travelers an incentive to stay in the Lynchburg region longer before moving on to Charlottesville, Virginia Beach or other regions. Local businesses could benefit as tourists spend more money at restaurants and hotels, and local governments would benefit from the tax revenue, she said.

The partnership does not have a firm date for launching the Give Me 5 program. It could start later this year, but it should launch by next spring’s travel season, Nix said.

The participating localities planned the regional passport program and applied for a grant from the Virginia Tourism Corporation. They announced this week that VTC awarded them $10,000. The money is part of a program to help communities leverage the money they spend on tourism.

“Tourism is an instant revenue generator, bringing in powerful tax dollars that support our communities,” said Alisa Bailey, VTC president and CEO, in a news release. “This is a small but impactful matching grant program that helps our local partners get the most out of their marketing, which is essential to bringing visitors to Virginia.”

Nix said the grant is essential to launching the program. It will help pay for the design and production of the passports and stamps that would be distributed to participating sites.

She said the localities involved in the program have worked together before, but this is their first regional passport effort.

She has heard of similar programs at tourism conferences, but Give Me 5 was not based on a program by any specific region.