The Advertising Reimbursement Grants to organizations for advertising, solicitations and promotions that directly promote tourism and the hotel and convention industry in Marfa.
Donor Name: City of Marfa
State: Texas
City: Marfa
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 10/16/2023
Size of the Grant: $3,500
Details:
In accordance with state law, this grant is restricted to advertising and promotion to attract tourists to the municipality or its vicinity. An organization can demonstrate impact by showing that hotel nights are booked due to their activity or that hotel guests attended their events.
By law of the State of Texas, the City of Marfa collects a Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) from hotels, short-term vacation rentals, and other lodging facilities. Under state law, the revenue from the HOT:
- may be used only to directly promote tourism and the hotel and convention industry.
- is limited to specific events and activities which, for the purposes of this application, include advertising, solicitations and promotions.
Priorities
- Priority will be given to events and entities based on their ability to generate overnight visitors to Marfa. If an event will not generate any meaningful hotel night activity, it is not eligible for receipt of hotel occupancy tax funds. Events can prove this potential to generate overnight visitors by:
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- historic information on the number of room nights used during previous years of the same event;
- current information on the size of a room block that has been reserved at area hotels to accommodate anticipated overnight guests attending the funded event;
- historical information on the number of guests at hotel or other lodging facilities that attended the funded event (through surveys, guest directories, or other sources; and/or examples of the planned marketing of the programs and activities that will likely generate overnight visitors to local lodging properties from this event.
- Priority will be given to organizations that rent the Tourism/USO Building or Marfa Activity Center for their event.
- The advertising reimbursement grant encourages organizations to advertise their events in media markets outside the local area in order to generate overnight visitors.
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- Advertising directed to individuals outside of the Tri-County area may be reimbursed at 100% of the advertising cost. Examples may include spots on Marfa Public Radio, flyers placed in local and regional hotels, motels, and other room rentals, and ads and promotion placed in regional or national publications or websites.
- Ads placed in local newspapers may be reimbursed at the following rates. (Rates are based on number of subscriptions: 34% of the cost of ads placed in The Big Bend Sentinel, 26% of the cost of ads placed in The Presidio International, 53% of the cost of ads placed in The Alpine Avalanche, and 66% of the cost of ads placed in The Jeff Davis County Mountain Dispatch (percentages are based on ratio of outside of the Tri-County area subscriptions to total subscriptions). Only KTRS radio advertising will be considered as outside Tri-County area instead of the local area.
Funding Information
- The maximum grant award will not exceed $3,500. Grant monies are given on a reimbursement basis only, not as a cash donation.
- In order to receive reimbursement, organizations must:
- provide copies of invoices
- provide a completed Post-Event Report Form within thirty days following the event.
Eligibility Criteria
The City of Marfa accepts Advertising Grant applications from groups and businesses.
For more information, visit City of Marfa.
