Frederick, MD -- The Tourism Council of Frederick County (TCFC) awarded 15 non-profit organizations a combined $154,432 in advertising and product development funding for fiscal year 2016, which begins July 1, 2015, through its Tourism Reinvestment in Promotion & Product (TRIPP) Program. Since the inception of the Frederick County hotel tax in 2004, the Tourism Council has awarded more than $2 million to benefit local non-profit organizations to support their events and attractions.
“TRIPP utilizes a portion of the hotel tax revenue received by the Tourism Council,” explains Kari Saavedra, Museum Manager at Rose Hill Manor Park & Museum and chair of the Tourism Council’s TRIPP Committee. “That portion of the hotel tax is used to reinvest in the continued growth of opportunities for visitors to Frederick County by supporting destination sites in their development of new events and programs that support our community and encourage overnights by visitors to Frederick County,” she says.
This year the FY16 TRIPP program had $175,000 to award with $155,000 available for advertising and product development grants. It received 30 applications from 20 organizations and a total funding request of $266,990. “The selection committee carefully evaluated each application, and awarded funding based on which programs would bring the highest return for Frederick County,” says John Fieseler, Executive Director for the Tourism Council. “An additional $20,000 will be available for the group overnight incentive program and the unanticipated opportunity fund in fiscal year 2016,” he added.
The TRIPP Program has four funding categories: advertising funding, product development grants, group overnight incentive program, and the unanticipated opportunity fund.
Applications and guidelines for the fiscal year 2017 TRIPP Program will be available in January 2016. For more information, contact the Tourism Council at 301-600-4047 or visit http://visitfrederick.org/tripp
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