The Town of Kilmarnock received a $10,000 grant from the Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC)’s Microbusiness Marketing Leverage Program (MMLP) for its Restaurant Week 2024 project.
Kilmarnock partnered with other local businesses to supply matching funds for the project to showcase all the culinary excellence in our community. Restaurant Week runs from January 19-28, 2024 giving visitors and locals ten days, including two weekends, to try a new establishment or to frequent a favorite. January is an important time to support local businesses in the shoulder tourism season.
Virginia Tourism Corporation awarded more than $757,000 to 131 marketing programs, ultimately impacting 655 combined partners, and supporting more than 1,300 jobs across the state to help increase off-season visitation to tourism businesses and destinations.
“Restaurant Week 2024 is designed to bring new and existing foodies to the wide variety of establishments we have in Kilmarnock and throughout Virginia’s River Realm. January can be a wonderful time of year to visit when crowds are lessened and more time can be spent getting to know our restauranteurs and food purveyors” state Sharon Phillips, Kilmarnock’s Economic Development Coordinator.
“The Microbusiness Marketing Leverage Program is part of VTC’s strategy to grow year-round visitation in Virginia and is designed to support small tourism businesses with marketing dollars to drive out-of-state visitation during off-peak travel seasons. We are excited about this program because we see it as a gateway for small businesses to engage with VTC’s marketing and development ecosystem to grow their business and build on the Virginia is for Lovers branding,” said Rita McClenny, President and CEO of Virginia Tourism Corporation.
The VTC Microbusiness Marketing Leverage Program is designed to increase visitor spending in the off-season by leveraging limited marketing dollars, stimulating new tourism marketing through partnerships, and extending the “Virginia is for Lovers” brand. This is a program focused on supporting tourism businesses with less than 20 full-time employees through marketing partnerships. A minimum of five Virginia entities must partner to apply for the microbusiness marketing grant. Partners may consist of Virginia cities, towns, counties, convention and visitors’ bureaus, chambers of commerce, other local or regional destination marketing organizations, private businesses, museums, attractions, cultural events, and other tourism-related businesses.
Part of the Town of Kilmarnock’s government activities is to serve as a Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) that promotes what the Town offers to visitors and locals alike. It is one of the 8 Great Small Towns of Virginia’s River Realm (Learn more at www.virginiariverrealm.com).
