A new program from Greater Augusta Regional Tourism offers visitors and local residents special offers and discounts at more than 30 local businesses.
The SAW Savings Pass is an effort from GART to support local business as we begin to emerge from the COVID-19 public health response.
The SAW Savings pass, created by Bandwango, is designed to help drive economic activity in one of the hardest hit sectors, travel and hospitality. Partnering with GART, the regional tourism organization for Staunton, Augusta County and Waynesboro, and working alongside local businesses, Bandwango created a digital experience to connect visitors and locals to the best the SAW region has to offer.
GART received a GO Virginia Economic Resilience and Recovery grant in the summer of 2020 in order to support small businesses reopening after the initial COVID-19 public health shutdown. As part of the grant, GART is launching the SAW Savings Pass, a website, as well as a video series aimed at encouraging visitors to return to the SAW region.
Users access the passport’s dedicated landing page, where they sign up for the SAW Savings Pass by providing their name, e-mail address, and mobile phone number. A link is then sent to their mobile phone, which opens the passport and directs the user to add the button icon to their home screen, where they can access it any time.
There are no downloads or apps required.
Once the user is ready to redeem their pass, they simply have their coupon scanned at a participating business to access the savings.
“We are thrilled to be putting a portion of GART’s grant funding to use with the launch of the SAW Savings Pass, which will drive traffic to our remarkable and perseverant small businesses,” says Jennifer Callison, tourism and marketing manager for the City of Waynesboro.
Though the pass has launched, restaurants, shops, and attractions wishing to be a part of the pass can email Callison ([email protected]) about being added.