(The Center Square) – Forty-six grants totaling $3,437,267 will be awarded to New Mexico’s tourism-related cities, counties, foundations and other local entities by the New Mexico Tourism Department. The announcement was made on Tuesday detailing the department’s Cooperative Marketing Grant Program for fiscal year (FY) 2024, which has a 2-to-1 matching component raising the investment to $5.16 million in tourism advertising dollars.
“I’m incredibly pleased we continue to support so many communities and tourism amenities through the Cooperative Marketing Grant Program,” said Tourism Secretary Jen Paul Schroer.
The largest grant amount of $559,288 was awarded to Visit Albuquerque, a leading non-profit tourism-marketing organization supported by 700 partnerships and over 80 volunteers to promote Albuquerque as a leading world destination.
An estimated 62% of the budget for FY24 funding, approximately $2.2 million in grants, will go to rural communities. Indigenous communities will account for $109,052 in advertising funding.
An old west mountain town of Red River has benefitted from the Cooperative Marketing Grant Program not only financially but also through collaboration with drivers of the program to guide marketing initiatives.
“The Town of Red River has been an active participant in the New Mexico Tourism Department’s Cooperative Marketing Grant Program for many years now. We see a lot of value in leveraging our marketing dollars through this program to reach our target demographics. The program team collaborates with us on creating a media menu that aligns with our destination’s marketing strategy and offers an array of digital, print, and out-of-home initiatives that follow all current trends in tourism marketing,” said Town of Red River Director of Economic Development and Tourism Director Max Khudiakov.
“We are extremely pleased with the results of all the marketing campaigns we have done through the program and are looking forward to our future collaborations,” he continued.
Grant program disbursements for FY24 will be used for digital billboards, print ads, promotional articles, social media content development, seasonal campaigns with influencers, photo asset creation, crowdsourced photo and video management and other projects planned by recipients.
“Because tourism continues to be a viable source of economic development for New Mexico destinations of all sizes, pooling our resources for tourism marketing helps us deliver more effective results for communities,” Schroer acknowledged.
A complete list of recipients of the grant can be seen at newmexico.org
