The Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC) has awarded the Prince William County Office of Tourism – formerly known as Discover Prince William – with a $10,000 grant.
According to a release, the grant comes from their “Crush Friday Program” grant fund.
More on “Crush Friday”, from a release:
“Crush Friday” is part of VTC’s ongoing efforts to support U.S. Travel’s “Project: Time Off” initiative, encouraging citizens to utilize unused vacation days. In total, VTC awarded $250,000 to 25 tourism marketing agencies across the Commonwealth to help increase visitation and revenue for Virginia’s localities through tourism. More than 155 partners will participate in this cross-state marketing program effort.
“We are thrilled to be supporting U.S. Travel’s Project: Time Off with our brand new Crush Friday campaign. The Crush Friday initiative is an engaging, creative and collaborative way for Virginia localities to leverage critical marketing dollars to attract more visitors to the Commonwealth, increasing the economic impact of tourism,” said Rita McClenny, president and CEO of Virginia Tourism Corporation. “This program will also help to change the way millennials think about vacation and the importance of time off not only to their quality of life, but quality of work.”
The Prince William office expressed their excitement about the funding.
“We can’t wait to showcase the many attractions in Prince William County to reinforce reasons why workers of all ages should utilize their earned vacation time. We will also be launching an exciting marketing and advertising initiative this year to encourage Millennials and Xennials to leave the city on a Friday and take a breath of our relaxed attitude that our visitors have come to love,” stated Prince William County Director of Tourism Ann Marie Maher in a release.
More on the county’s planned use of the funding, from a release:
The Prince William County Office of Tourism partnered with Potomac Mills, Farm Brew Live, The Winery at LaGrange, IMG Hotels, Splashdown Waterpark, Murlarkey Distillery and others to supply matched marketing efforts for the project. The initiative will include radio broadcasts at sites throughout the County, promotional activities at multiple attractions such as at craft breweries and at Jiffy Lube Live, and other experiential amenities to encourage workers to take their time off in Prince William County.
American workers left 662 million vacation days on the table last year. Of these workers, the millennial sub-set is the most likely to forgo taking vacation days in an effort to be seen as valuable “work martyrs” for the company.
