Travel Wisconsin Grant Awarded to Marshfield Convention and Visitor Bureau (CVB)
In May 2016, Marshfield Convention and Visitor Bureau (CVB) sponsored a visit from and study by national tourism expert Roger Brooks. A recent Joint Effort Marketing Grant (JEM) grant from Travel Wisconsin will go exclusively towards the costs related to the study.
Travel Wisconsin is the official tourism website for the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, dedicated to showcasing the best of Wisconsin tourism, and through their grants they help provide financial assistance and expert guidance to help destinations throughout the state grow and develop. The Joint Effort Marketing Grant Program offers funding and guidance to make a promotion or event come to fruition. The grant reimburses Wisconsin non-profit organizations working on tourism-related projects for a portion of qualified advertising, marketing, or research costs.
“We felt we had a good shot at getting a grant from Travel Wisconsin (the State Department of Tourism) as destination research is very important to marketing for tourism and understanding your destination’s strengths and weaknesses,” said CVB Executive Director Matt McLean. “This program fit the grant criteria very well and this was the first time an assessment like this has been done in our area.”
Roger Brooks examines whether a community is a good place to live and raise a family, visit as a leisure tourist, and invest in or bring a business to, his ultimate goal is to help these communities become a viable, welcoming area for both residents and visitors.
“We are getting very positive feedback from those who have seen the study and it is reinforcing and helping move forward some ideas that have been on the table for a while, but also some new ideas that make sense for our community and tourism,” said McLean.
McLean added that CVB plans to continue to work with partners to take action on some of the suggestions from the study to create positive change and help improve the Marshfield area as a tourism destination.
“[This] also improves quality of life for residents and positively impacts economic development in our area,” said McLean.
See Brooks’ presentation in full – here.
