Tourism commissions across the region partnering together to seek funding

Governor Andy Beshear’s office recently announced that a total of $75 million would be distributed across the Commonwealth to help boost the state’s tourism industry and economy following a decline in visitors brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The funds, which are being made available through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), are being split into four separate pools. Pool four, which includes $10 million dollars for “multi-county collaborative destination marketing” was one of the main topics of discussion at Tuesday evening’s regular meeting of the Corbin Tourism and Convention Commission.

According to Corbin Tourism Director Maggy Monhollen, several tourism commissions throughout our region have agreed to form a united front in order to obtain a portion of the $10 million available in pool four. Those included in the effort are commissions located in Laurel, Harlan, Bell, Whitley, Rockcastle, Clay and Knox Counties.

Monhollen said that, should this joint venture be successful, up to $500,000 could be obtained to use in a regional marketing campaign that would highlight the top tourist draws in each individual area.

The regional group, which has dubbed itself the Appalachian Triangle of Kentucky, has until mid-September to file an application to receive the funding. They should find out if their application has been accepted sometime in early November.

In other tourism business from Tuesday’s meeting, Monhollen reported that the Daniel Boone Region, which includes Whitley, Knox and Laurel Counties, managed to re-capture 96% of the business that was obtained in 2019.

Coming out of the COVID shutdowns that halted tourism activity in the state in 2020, Monhollen said that the region has increased its visitation by roughly a million visitors. She also said that she anticipates seeing numbers that will surpass pre-COVID levels when all is said and done in the year 2022.

In one final piece of tourism business, the Corbin Tourism and Convention Commission is currently urging all residents of the local area to go online in the coming days to cast their vote in Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine’s Top Adventure Towns Contest. Round one of voting, which is now underway, will be open through Monday, Aug. 22. If Corbin can advance in the “Best Small Adventure Town” category, it will be featured in round two, which will run from Aug. 23-29. The final round of voting will take place between Aug. 30-Sept. 6.

For more information, go online to www.blueridgeoutdoors.com and find the link to the contest on the home page. A direct link has also been made available at the Corbin Tourism and Convention Commission’s official Facebook page.