Nevada’s Commission on Tourism Unveils $13.65M COVID Recovery Plans

On Friday, the Nevada Commission on Tourism gathered to honor Lt. Governor Kate Marshall, who resigned from her position as chair to join the Biden administration, and discuss plans of revitalizing the tourism industry after the disastrous effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Board Agreed on Spending $13.65 for Improving Tourism

The presented plans envision using $13.65 million in federal grant funding to reinforce the marketing efforts and, by extension, get the business running once again. The proposal was unanimously agreed on.

As a part of the American Rescue Plan, the United States Economic Development Administration provided Nevada with the much-needed funding to begin breathing back life in tourism and outdoor recreational activities. An additional $760,000 was provided for rural grants. The Nevada Commission on Tourism distributed the majority of the latter sum to 92 out of the 134 entities that had requested financial government aid. 

During the meeting Vice Chairwoman, Cynthia Mun paid tribute to Lieutenant Governor Kate Marshall, whose resignation became effective on the same day. Marshall will be joining the Biden administration as a senior adviser, effectively leaving Nevada’s Commission on Tourism without a chair. Governor Steve Sisolak is yet to decide who will be the next to take on the role of a Lieutenant Governor.

The NCOT Details Plans on Rekindling Tourism

Here are NCOT’s current plans on distributing subsidies to various tourism-related bodies. A sum of $150,000 will be used for adventure center site planning. With people feeling safer outdoors, investing in outdoor activities is proving to be highly lucrative. Nevada has seen this tendency as many new visitors tend to be attracted to its open-air offerings. Because of this tendency, an additional $150,000 will be spent on analysis and asset mapping of outdoor recreation. 

On the same note, another $150,000 will be spent on managed recreation planning for Tahoe Meadows, a gateway to Lake Tahoe – one of the most appealing destinations to tourists, estimated to attract over 15 million annual visitors. 

As Marshall got dark-skies legislation approved in 2021, this new tourism trend will also receive support in the form of $200,000.  A sum of $300,000 will be used to develop an Adventure NV mobile app that will help tourists with important information about various outdoor activities like hiking, stargazing, water sports, climbing, etc. The app is planned to list all the important outdoors tourism sites while providing crucial safety information to the user. 

$600,000 will be used for the trail system and infrastructure planning of outdoor activities. 

One million is to be given to Travel Nevada in accordance with its own strategic plan, and an additional two million will go to the tourism community planning program Destination Development.  Finally, several South Nevada entities received smaller grants for a total of $70,740.