Town receives eight tourism grants totaling $52,440

The town of Pahrump got a huge boost in their efforts to draw more visitors to town when they were awarded eight grants, totaling $52,440, from Nevada Tourism.

The grants are part of the Rural Marketing Grant Program, to be used in fiscal year 2017.

The grant program was created to fund marketing projects, aimed at boosting overnight visitation in rural areas of Nevada. Recipients are required to match funds 50-50 in money or volunteer hours, unless a waiver is approved.

On Tuesday county commissioners will review and vote whether or not to match the funds.

With the town’s recent push to promote tourism to the area, town of Pahrump tourism director Arlette Ledbetter said the grants are crucial to their mission.

“The partnership with TravelNevada has been a long and fortuitous partnership for all of us,” Ledbetter said. “Not only does it help Pahrump, but it helps Nevada Silver Trails territory as well as the state of Nevada.”

Spreading the word on Pahrump all around different areas is key but reaching those who live and visit over the hump is always top priority.

“So once we get our information out in the traveler’s hands …that leads to our visitors visiting areas of our county,” she said. “It especially happens from Clark County, as Las Vegas people venture out here for our rural adventures.”

Ledbetter said that the town advertises in a variety of ways including online, on radio and in print.

The largest grant awarded to the town was grant NST-17-45 for $12,000, ($6,000 from grant program, and $6,000 match from town if approved) and is to be used for public relations.

Money from that grant goes toward engaging a professional public relations firm, in Pahrump’s case BrainTrust Media. Fiscal year 2016’s public relations campaign resulted in securing 43 media stories valued at more than $499,000, garnering more than 58 million impressions from local, regional and national exposure.

“BrainTrust is our PR firm and they’re also our social media and marketing firm,” Ledbetter said. “The TravelNevada granting only grants on public relations, not on website marketing. So we have to divide the BrainTrust contract there.”

A new project that the town picked up this year is a partnership with Madden Media, a travel marketing firm out of Tucson, Arizona. Grant NST-17-38, will award $5,000 ($2,500 Rural Marketing Grant Program, $2,500 match from Pahrump) to go toward Madden Media’s services.

“Madden Media is doing some amplified storytelling, integrated inserts and prospecting and website retargeting,” Ledbetter said. “One of the benefits (of prospecting and website retargeting) is we are conjoined with TravelNevada on this project. It’s not just our website, we are joined with the Nevada website.”

Ledbetter said that this year’s grant totals are pretty in line with years past, and she is happy with what the town gets from the program.

“I can’t speak enough goodness about TravelNevada’s generosity and their partnership in selling us when they go out to sell the state of Nevada.”

Grants are awarded twice per fiscal year with the Rural Marketing Grant Program, with the eight grants Pahrump received being part of the first wave of this fiscal year. In total, $895,770 was awarded to Nevada to promote rural tourism.

Funding for the Rural Grants Program comes from a portion of the three-eighths of one percent of room tax revenue that TravelNevada receives. Funding does not come from the state’s general fund.

For more information on TravelNevada visit them online at TravelNevada.biz.

Contact reporter Mick Akers at makers@pvtimes.com. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.