Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce issued the following announcement on July 8.
Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce today announced it has been awarded a Tourism Recovery Marketing Grant from Explore Georgia, the state tourism office within the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD). The Explore Georgia Tourism Recovery Marketing Grant program supports marketing efforts to bolster the recovery of Georgia’s tourism industry from the COVID-19 pandemic. Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce was among 34 tourism entities across 27 counties who received a combined total of nearly $1.5 million in recovery marketing funding as part of this one-time grant program.
Governor Kemp and the Georgia General Assembly approved $1 million in the amended FY21 state budget for tourism recovery. Because of the substantial number of grant applications – from 58 organizations totaling nearly $2.5 million in funding requests – 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 co-op matching funds, for a total of $2 million in recovery support.
Julie Paysen, president of Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce says, “We are grateful to have been awarded this $6900 grant from the Georgia Department of Economic Development. These funds will be used exclusively to promote tourism in Toccoa-Stephens County. The tourism industry took a direct hit in 2020. This grant will allow us to focus specifically on strengthening our presence with travelers through various platforms, reaching farther and growing our audience through third party content, website and social media advertising.”
Jeremy Spradlin, with Georgia Power Company who serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Chamber says, “I am so proud of Julie Paysen and Samantha Rickman, our Chamber staff. Together they have not stopped for a minute, working tirelessly throughout the pandemic serving our community. Our Chamber of Commerce is also responsible for our Welcome Center/Regional Visitor Information Center and Tourism, promoting all Toccoa-Stephens County has to offer. This grant is much needed and well deserved and will allow us the ability to increase our tourism footprint, which as we know leads to increased economic development.”
“Georgia is a beautiful state and as we continue to recover, I look forward to working alongside our industry partners to promote the state’s incredible tourism assets to travelers across the globe,” said Pat Wilson, commissioner of GDEcD. “These grants are an important tool for our industry organizations, the majority of which are small businesses, to begin their recovery efforts. We are dedicated to rebuilding travel and tourism across our state because Georgia’s diverse economy cannot fully recover until our tourism and hospitality industry is thriving once again.”
The Explore Georgia Tourism Recovery Marketing Grant program was designed to provide relief to areas of the state most impacted by the drop in tourism and will fund promotional efforts to aid the travel industry’s recovery in 2021. The grants awarded have prioritized organizations and communities that have experienced the greatest impact from the loss of visitors and subsequent tourism spending during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As we head into a summer when we expect to see a tremendous reemergence of domestic tourism and the economic prosperity that travel brings, the funding of these grants recognizes the importance of communicating the diversity of visitor experiences across Georgia that are close to home for so many Americans,” said Mark Jaronski, deputy commissioner of tourism at GDEcD. “Thanks to a great working relationship with our destination marketing partners across the state, we believe that we can be most effective in what’s expected to be an incredibly competitive landscape by marketing Georgia to the American public together and complementing the state’s tourism recovery campaign Ready. Set. Georgia.”
The applications were evaluated based on need, quantified by the year-over-year loss in Hotel-Motel Excise Tax collections for the organization, and the change in unemployment in the organization’s county. Grant recipients received 100% of the award amount requested on their applications.
Original source can be found here.
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