Rural Nevada receives $666K in tourism grants

LAS VEGAS — The Nevada Commission on Tourism (NCOT) approved $660,600 in grants for rural tourism organizations to promote their destinations, Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison announced Monday. The grants will be distributed by the Nevada Division of Tourism (TravelNevada) through its longstanding Rural Marketing Grants program. Among the tourism initiatives and special events to receive marketing grants were: Nevada’s Single-track Mountain Bike Adventure, which promotes bike trails along U.S. 50 and U.S. 93; the Dam Short Film Festival in Boulder City; and the Top Gun Dragstrip in Fallon.

“Tourism is a billion-dollar industry in rural Nevada, and the projects funded in this latest round of grants represent some of the best efforts to drive visitation to our rural communities,” Hutchison, NCOT chairman, said. “Rural Nevada continues to demonstrate the ingenuity and hard work it takes to keep its tourism industry strong, and we are pleased to support those efforts through this grant program.”

On Monday, 104 grants were awarded to nonprofit groups for tourism marketing projects that will result in overnight stays, ultimately increasing room tax revenue for the state.

Among the funded projects: The Nevada Division of Tourism awarded $15,000 to the Carson City Visitors Bureau to promote Nevada’s Single-track Mountain Bike Adventure. Funds will pay for video production, photography and website design to promote bike trails in communities along U.S. 50 and U.S. 93. While those communities — which include Carson City, Austin, Ely and Caliente — already have established trails, the Single-track Mountain Bike Adventure will encourage visitors to travel from town to town to experience cycling in those destinations.

A $7,000 grant was given to the Dam Short Film Festival in Boulder City to create promotional videos of the event. The Fallon Convention and Tourism Authority received $4,000 to market the Top Gun Dragstrip south of Fallon off U.S. 95.

The Nevada Division of Tourism granted $17,500 to the Lander County Convention & Tourism Authority to study the feasibility of building a year-round facility to house the World Human Powered Speed Challenge. A $7,000 grant was awarded to Nevada’s Indian Territory, an organization that promotes tribal tourism within the state, to market the Nevada Tribal Tourism Training in 2018.

Nevada Silver Trails, an organization that markets tourism in the wide swath of south-central Nevada, received a $12,500 grant to promote the region’s special events via radio and digital ads in the Las Vegas market.

The Nevada Division of Tourism awarded $15,000 to the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority (LTVA) to develop a marketing plan to attract meetings and conventions to the Stateline-South Tahoe area.

Funding for the Rural Marketing Grants program doesn’t come from the state’s general fund. The Nevada Division of Tourism receives three-eighths of 1 percent of room tax revenue as its operations budget. Grant recipients must provide a 50-50 match in funds or volunteer hours unless a waiver is approved. The Nevada Division of Tourism distributes the grants in the form of reimbursements to the recipients after the projects are completed and labor and funding details are documented.