Kentucky has allocated $75 million in an effort to boost the state’s tourism industry and economy following a decline in visitors brought on by the pandemic, Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday.
The $75 million in funding from the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program of the American Rescue Plan Act was supported by the Governor and allocated by the General Assembly in the 2022 legislative session.
The funding is divided into four pools and will be distributed to eligible tourism and destination marketing organizations that apply and show the impact COVID had on their group. Over the next several weeks, the Kentucky Department of Tourism will allocate this funding to eligible tourism organizations throughout the commonwealth.
The $75 million in ARPA funding will be distributed as follows:
Pool one: $15 million will be used for statewide tourism marketing efforts.
Pool two: $25 million will be used in a grant program for tourism commissions to market their communities.
Pool three: $25 million will be used to attract meetings and conventions.
Pool four: $10 million will be used for multicounty collaborative destination marketing.
Tourism organizations can apply here.