The Sunshine Coast has received a funding boost to assist in attracting visitors.
Through the Community Tourism Opportunities (CTO) program, Sunshine Coast Tourism was granted $23,000 for the 2011/12 year.
More than 180 com-munities across British Columbia have received funding to support and promote tourism.
Celia Robben, president of Sunshine Coast Tourism, said the organization is very happy with the amount, which was one of the larger individual amounts in the province.
Funded by the Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation, the grant is critical to the Sunshine Coast Tourism's 50/50 private-public funding model.
"We are able to take part of our local government funding and leverage into the matching provincialprogram to create $46,000 to be used for specific marketing programs," Robben said.
As part of the application process, specific projects were presented for the marketing plan. This year's CTO projects will include a fall marketing campaign highlighting arts and culture, a spring marketing campaign highlighting health and wellness and a marketing program centred on sustainability and green travel.
Also in development are two infrastructure projects which will result in creating high quality video and major website upgrades to improve on-line marketing capabilities.
Robben said these projects aim to provide community benefits Coast-wide.
"All our Sunshine Coast Tourism projects represent the entire Sunshine Coast, from Howe Sound to Desolation Sound and Langdale to Lund.Our ability to work as a unified region allows us to receive greater funding than any of our communities would receive individually," she said.
A requirement of the funding includes reporting on results of each project including evaluation metrics such as occupancy rates, visitor traffic andweb traffic. Previous successful completion of CTO projects has been what Robben referred to as "key" in receiving this year's grant and possibly future grants.
Tourism plays a vital role on the Coast and the CTO grant is a welcome link in the local economic chain, she said.
"Tourism is so important to the Sunshine Coast economy because it brings in off-Coast dollars or new money," she said. "Visitors spend money on accommodation, food, art, retail goods and activities such as equipment rentals and tours. These local businesses then pay local employees and purchase supplies and services from other local businesses."
