CARSON CITY, Nev. — The Nevada Commission on Tourism (NCOT) awarded $200,000 in matching grants to rural organizations to improve property, facilities and infrastructure in the effort to attract more visitors to the Silver State, Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki announced recently.
Eighteen grants under the Projects Relating to Tourism program were awarded, funding a range of initiatives from enhanced signage to facilities improvements to display cases for museum exhibits.
“These grants give Nevada’s rural communities the ability to make important infrastructure improvements that will increase tourism, which is so crucial to our economy and which generated $2.7 billion in state and local tax revenue in 2012,” Krolicki, NCOT chairman, said. “Without these grants, many of these worthy projects might never be completed. These types of projects are also given priority because other sources of funding are unavailable.”
NCOT distributes the Projects Relating to Tourism grants every other year. Grant recipients must provide a local match to the award, a portion of which can be in-kind goods or services. The Projects Relating to Tourism grant program is a separate program from NCOT’s Marketing Grants, which are distributed twice a year.
“Nevada is seeing a rise in the number of visitors to all areas of the state, and we must ensure that our rural areas can support the increase with its infrastructure,” Claudia Vecchio, director of the Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, said. “The grants programs are just one way that the commission supports Nevada’s tourism industry, which is so vital to the state’s economy.”
Among the funded Projects Relating to Tourism grants:
- Pershing County Chamber of Commerce was granted $15,500 to purchase additional bollards and chains in Lovers Lock Plaza in Lovelock to expand the town’s “Lock Your Love” tourism promotion. Following a Chinese custom of symbolically locking one’s love on a never-ending chain, visitors to Lovelock can fasten a lock on a chain in the plaza and throw away the key, uniting their love for eternity. The program’s popularity has resulted in the need to expand the chains on which the locks can be fastened.
- Indian Territory, a nonprofit organization promoting Nevada’s American Indian tourism offerings, was awarded $3,000 for two display cases for the American Indian cultural exhibit at Reno-Tahoe International Airport. The exhibit opened in May 2013 with display cases that were on loan from the Nevada State Museum.
- A $20,000 grant to the Boys & Girls Club of Mason Valley will help fund a project connecting the city of Yerington’s water supply to the Lyon County Fairgrounds. The fairgrounds, which hosts events including the annual Night in the Country music festival, lost the use of its well in 2012 and was ordered to close its restroom facilities. This project will allow the fairgrounds to reopen those facilities.
- The Great Basin Heritage Area Partnership, a nonprofit group in Baker, was given $4,895 for the creation of interpretive and directional signs at the Historic Baker Ranger Station on Nevada 487 in Baker. Designed to orient visitors to the many heritage sites within Nevada’s Snake Valley, the signs are meant to encourage longer stays in the area.
- A $13,100 grant was awarded to the Carson Valley Visitors Authority to replace two welcome signs with new ones that will reflect the Carson Valley’s new branding, which promotes the area as Rugged, Relaxed and Reachable.
For a complete list of grants awarded, click here.
The Nevada Commission on Tourism (NCOT) is part of the Nevada Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs. NCOT is responsible for promoting and marketing Nevada as a travel destination to domestic and international travelers. Operating within a performance-based budget structure, NCOT is funded solely by a percentage of lodging tax paid by overnight guests throughout the state. For more, visit www.TravelNevada.biz.
