Commerce Chenango Tourism offers tourism-related grant program

NORWICH, N.Y. — Commerce Chenango Tourism says new grant program is available for Chenango County tourism-related businesses, as well as event and festival organizers.

The program is the result of funding from the Chenango County local occupancy tax, which the Chenango County Board of Supervisors signed into law in 2020, per a news release about the program.

To see the grant guidelines or to apply, call 607-334-1429 or email a request to tourism@chenangony.org. Grants up to $1,000 may be awarded (subject to change). The

application deadline is April 4.

Commerce Chenango is appointed each year as the Tourism Promotion Agent (TPA) for Chenango County. Under the county’s law, it is the designated recipient of the balance of the occupancy tax collected for the prior fiscal year.

The county uses a portion of the funds collected to cover administrative costs. Commerce Chenango Tourism has created a marketing and promotion plan for 2022, which includes the launch of this grant opportunity, the organization said.

The purpose of the Chenango County Tourism grant program is to create a dedicated funding stream, available to tourism properties, businesses, and organizations, to “promote and develop” the tourism industry within Chenango County.

“We are currently accepting applications for the Tourism Promotion Grant Program. The grant is an effort to help some of the smaller tourism properties get help with marketing,” Audrey Robinson, director of tourism for Chenango County, said. “The application and guidelines are easy to follow and may provide a few dollars to help market tourism businesses and services.” 

Eligible applicants need to be a Chenango County tourism-based business. Possible expenses include — but are not limited to — advertising through media channels such as magazines, newspapers, special event brochures, website banners, radio, and television. All eligible expenses must meet the criteria and secure approval by the tourism grant committee and the tourism director, Commerce Chenango said. 

The committee will give priority to projects that support public events, programs, or a series of events that seek to build upon historical, musical, culinary, agricultural, recreational, and/or cultural traditions of the area and hold the “reasonable potential” to attract non-county visitors. However, the committee will consider all tourism-related proposals.

“The Chenango County occupancy tax program was a great way to add additional funds into the overall tourism marketing and promotion program for Chenango County, and I applaud the Board of Supervisors for taking this step” Kerri Green, president & CEO of Commerce Chenango, said. “Due to their foresight, this inaugural year will allow us to expand our footprint and promote Chenango County through various channels and in new ways we have never been able to before. This addition of this local grant fund is just another way we can better support our tourism properties, events, and festivals throughout the county.”