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Tourist Commission Gets State Funding

Commission Uses Money To Market Mercer County

Robert Moore
Herald Staff
rmoore@harrodsburgherald.com

The Harrodsburg-Mercer County Tourist Commission is receiving $18,742 in funding from the state with the potential of receiving more to support efforts in marketing Mercer County.

Last week, Gov. Andy Beshear, the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet and members of the General Assembly announced that 103 tourism and destination marketing organizations in 88 Kentucky counties will receive a total of $5.3 million in funding.

The state government is looking to ensure the tourism industry is positioned to thrive in a post-pandemic economy. The governor announced that more than $4.6 million will be directly awarded to tourism and destination marketing organizations. An additional $678,624 will be allocated directly to the commonwealth’s nine tourism regions to support regional marketing and promotion. Previously, the Governor dedicated $2.8 million in federal funding to support the creation of regional marketing campaigns, with the region Mercer belongs to—Bluegrass, Horses, Bourbon and Boone—set to receive $937,804.

The funding awards are based on the respective counties’ share of the 2019 Economic Impact Report. For the full list of funding recipients, visit tah.ky.gov.

Tourism is a $8.9 billion industry, according to the state, which supports economic growth in both rural and urban communities in Kentucky

At their meeting in March, the tourist commission took several steps to market Mercer County. They agreed to pay $2,500 to buy ads on WLEX in March. Tourist commission Executive Director Daarik Gray and Chairman Tim Kazimer met with WLEX and talked about advertising with the station, which had already done filming locally.

“It elevates us a little bit,” Kazimer told the board. The station said the ads can run thousands of times over the air as well as online. As part of the package,

WLEX also ran spotlights on area attractions.

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