Virginia throwing $2.2M at local tourism, against anybody’s better sense

With gas prices and the price of airline tickets through the roof, maybe not the best time to throw money at tourism.

And if you’re trying to draw tourists from outside the U.S., they ain’t coming – the Trump regime has everybody with a foreign visa assuming that they’ll be thrown into a gulag for weeks for jaywalking.

Anyway.

The governor’s office pushed out a press release on Thursday about the state awarding $2.2 million in matching grants and sponsorship funds for 143 local tourism programs.

At least we’re not putting a lot of our taxpayer money to this, I guess.

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Details

• A full list of funding recipients can be found  here.

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“The strength of Virginia’s tourism industry is critical to local economies across every region of our Commonwealth,” Gov. Abigail Spanberger said, in a quote highlighted in the press release. “From rural communities to our urban centers, this funding will showcase the full breadth and beauty of our home while supporting jobs, expanding opportunities for small businesses, and driving economic growth statewide.”

The local programs are putting $4.3 million of their local tax dollars toward their tourism efforts, so, that raises the total to $6.5 million going to this overall.

With the bigger-picture reality being what it is, we’re really just shuffling money around from one part of the state to another – for example, here in the Valley, we like to brag about how we draw in tourist dollars from Northern Virginia.

Which is akin to how Northern Virginia tax dollars also help us balance our local budgets.

And yet, folks out our way complain that they don’t like NoVa telling them what to do.

They’re perfectly fine taking their money.

Enough reality; let’s finish with a positive-sounding quote from the press release.

“Effective tourism marketing is key to turning interest into visitation into economic impact,” said Rita McClenny, president and CEO of Virginia Tourism Corporation. “These programs give our partners the tools to tell more compelling stories about their destinations, connect with travelers in meaningful ways, and inspire deeper exploration across Virginia.”