Reston Historic Trust & Museum has received $10,000 from the Virginia Tourism Corporation’s (VTC) Recovery Marketing Leverage Program (RMLP), designed to help local and regional tourism entities attract more visitors by leveraging limited local marketing dollars through a local match of the state grants funds.
More than $1.9 million in matching grant funds were awarded to 161 local tourism initiatives through this program. This funding cycle, local partners will provide more than $5.6 million in-kind value to match the VTC grants. The grants will ultimately impact 483 statewide tourism entities.
Reston Historic Trust & Museum will use the VTC Recovery Marketing Leverage grant funds to promote the Reston Museum and Reston as a day trip destination through advertising throughout the Washington DC Metro Area. Reston Historic Trust & Museum will be partnering with Reston Association and Public Art Reston to create a tour packet that will be handed out at the museum to include brochures, local event calendar, trail and art maps, and much more so visitors can learn about Reston’s unique history as a forward thinking planned community and enjoy all the wonderful amenities and activities that Reston offers.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on the tourism and hospitality industries in Virginia. As the Commonwealth slowly reopens for business, VTC offered these grant funds as a first step to re-entry into the marketplace to spur economic activity and future travel across the Commonwealth of Virginia.
“Tourism is a crucial section of the Virginia economy and when we invest in this industry, we support local job creation and drive regional economic growth, which is desperately needed now due to the pandemic,” said Governor Ralph Northam. “These funds give localities and businesses access to critical marketing resources that will help bring more travelers to our Commonwealth, increase visitor spending, and grow demand for Virginia products.”
Tourism is one of the Commonwealth’s largest economic engines. According to fxva.com with visitors to Fairfax County, where Reston is located, spent more than 3.28 Billion 2019, supporting 31,000 work opportunities and contributing170.9 billion tax revenue. The tourism and hospitality industries have also been among the hardest-hit by the pandemic, experiencing decreased revenue and job loss, along with the temporary closure of many tourism-related businesses. A revived tourism economy can help spur new economic activity and inject critical funds back into Virginia communities.
Source: https://www.fxva.com/about-us/tourism-travel-statistics/
About the Reston Historic Trust & Museum
The Reston Historic Trust & Museum (RHT) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving Reston’s past, informing the present, and influencing the future of Reston. RHT preserves a collection of archival material and artifacts related to the history of Reston, many of which are exhibited at the Reston Museum. The Museum is located at Lake Anne Plaza and is open Monday through Saturday free of charge. RHT also conducts educational and public programming, exhibitions, and public events including the Lake Anne Cardboard Boat Regatta, the Reston Home Tour, and Founder’s Day. Programs of the Reston Historic Trust & Museum are supported in part by Reston Community Center. This year we are proud to announce the receipt of $4,000 in funding provided by Virginia Humanities and the National endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as a part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act economic stabilization plan 2020. For more information, visit www.restonmuseum.org
About Virginia Tourism Corporation
Virginia Tourism Corporation is the state agency charged with marketing the Commonwealth as a premier travel and film destination. In 2019, visitors to Virginia spent $27 billion, which supported 237,000 work opportunities and contributed $1.8 billion in state and local taxes. To learn more, visit virginia.org
