WFCCVB awarded virginia tourism and workshop grant

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The Winchester Frederick County Convention and Visitors Bureau(WFCCVB) reports by email that they were awarded a Virginia Tourism and Workshop Grant.

The $10,000 grant includes a community stakeholder workshop and eligible program expenses.

The Drive Tourism and Workshop grant program will help Virginia communities enhance their competitiveness, boost tourism spending, extend visitor stays through targeted promotion and product development workshops.

Winchester is coming off one of the most successful calendar years where local hotels outperformed the rest of the Virginia as a whole for 50 of 52 weeks in 2024.

A key outcome of a recent tourism summit was the need for companies and organizations to be agile and creative in creating immersive traveler experiences.

Another tourism summit to explore these ideas is scheduled for mid-September this year.

For more news from across the Shenandoah Valley, click here.

Inspiring Tourism Summit comes to Winchester

The Winchester-Frederick County Convention and Visitors Bureau announced that the 2025 Inspiring Tourism Summit will be held at West Oaks Farm and Market on Thursday, February 27th.

This event will pull together key industry professionals from around the state to provide cutting-edge information on industry travel trends to local businesses, organizations and residents.

Featured topics include domestic and international travel data, trends and forecasts, regional and state marketing initiatives from Virginia Tourism, future plans from Friends of Old Town Winchester, and more.

Justin Kerns, Executive Director of the Winchester-Frederick County CVB said, “It is our hope that this information will spark ideas and creativity within our community that leads to greater economic success for our small businesses when it comes to attracting and retaining these valuable out-of-town visitors.”

Any business based in Winchester or Frederick County is encouraged to attend and tickets are free but registration is required.

A link to register is available here.

For more news from across the Shenandoah Valley, click here. 

Governor Youngkin announces funding to small buisnesses

Governor Glenn Youngkin announced that more than $500k will be awarded to small businesses across the Commonwealth as part of the Virginia Tourism Corporation Program.

This funding program is designed to leverage local marketing dollars with matching state funds to increase visitation and traveler spending in the off-season.

This funding cycle, local partners will commit more than $700,168 in private-public sector funds to match the VTC funding, providing new marketing activity focused on increasing off-season visitation to Virginia’s small tourism-oriented businesses and events.

Of the total grant funding, $170k is being awarded to areas of Southwest Virginia that were impacted by Hurricane Helene.

For more news from across the Shenandoah Valley, click here.

Increase in Shenandoah County tourism boosts economy and job growth

Shenandoah County saw an increase in tourism revenue during 2022, according to a recent release from the Tourism and Development Department.

Tourism spending reached over $138 million dollars and supported 1,245 jobs.

The spending represented a 6.3% increase from the previous year.

Tourism also supported over $5.5 million in local taxes in addition to another $3.6 million in state taxes.

The Virginia Tourism Corporation found that Virginia generated $30.3 billion in visitor spending in 2022, an increase of over 20% from 2021 and exceeded pre-pandemic levels by 4.4%.

Jenna French, Director of Tourism and Economic Development said, “Tourism continues to be a vital part of economic growth for Shenandoah County. The continued increase in visitation to our area year over year has helped support the growth of many small businesses throughout our communities adding vibrancy to the County and enhancing the quality of life for local residents as well.”

For more news from across the Shenandoah Valley, click here.

Virginia tourism increased over 20% in 2022

Virginia saw a 20.3% increase in tourism in 2022 according to an announcement from Governor Glenn Youngkin and the Virginia Tourism Corporation.

Total visitor spending generated $30.3 billion and directly supported over 210,000 jobs.

Travelers on average spent $83 million per day in the Commonwealth which directly drove nearly $2.2 billion in state and local tax revenues for the year.

The leading tourism sectors are recreation and food and beverage which exceeded pre-pandemic levels by 10%.

Transportation, especially air travel, had a slower recovery but the fastest growth in 2022.

One reason for the growth includes the use of marketing dollars distributed through the American Rescue Plan Act which helped Virginia reach roughly 15 million more households in 2022 than 2021. 

For a detailed look at Virginia’s economic impact data, click here.

For more news from across the Shenandoah Valley, click here.

VA. Tourism receives $2.7 million in funding

An email from Governor Youngkin announced that the Virginia Tourism Corporation will receive $2.7 million to bolster regional tourism.

The funds will be shared by 259 local and regional tourism marketing programs across the state.

The money is to help increase visitation and revenue for Virginia localities through tourism.

Shenandoah County confirmed in an email the reception of  $20,000 of those funds to be used to support Trail Treks and Road Rides in the George Washington National Forest.

An email from Shenandoah University (SU) confirms reception of  $10,000 worth of funding.

SU will use the money for its Summer Music Theatre (SMMT) along with $11,000 in matching funds from the George Washington Hotel and the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley.

The matching funds will also be helped with the support of several Winchester restaurants to encourage patrons of SU’s SMMT to extend their stay in the area.

For more news from across the Shenandoah Valley, click here.