The Visit Albuquerque Tourism Grant program aims to spark innovative ideas that contribute to Albuquerque’s vibrancy and build new, creative visitor and resident experiences that grow a more diverse and thriving tourism economy.
Donor Name: Visit Albuquerque
State: New Mexico
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/22/2026
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: 1 Year
Details:
Investments in tourism help showcase Albuquerque’s diverse cultures, authentic art and dynamic traditions, while also supporting outdoor recreational and entertainment amenities and businesses.
Visit Albuquerque’s Tourism Grant Program is designed to help bring the vision of the Albuquerque Destination Master Plan to life through community-led innovation and collaboration.
The ATMD provides additional funds to expand marketing of Albuquerque, enhance visitor services and develop destination assets. The ATMD:
- Promotes Albuquerque as a destination for leisure travel, meetings, and sports events.
- Helps Albuquerque compete against destinations with larger marketing budgets.
- Helps increase the number of overnight visitors to the city.
- Helps increase occupancy levels and room rates for the lodging establishments located within the District.
- Generates revenue for the city’s hospitality industry, retail sector, and arts and cultural sectors.
- Generates tax revenue for the city, county, and state.
- Creates jobs and diversifies the economy.
High Priority Focus Areas
These areas represent strategic initiatives where Visit Albuquerque is prioritizing investment and community collaboration to drive transformational impact in the near term.
- Route 66
- As we are in the Route 66 Centennial year, Albuquerque has a unique opportunity to elevate its position as one of the most authentic and vibrant destinations along the historic corridor. Projects that celebrate, enhance or reimagine Route 66 experiences help strengthen Albuquerque’s national and international visibility while supporting local businesses.
- Creation of Route 66-related businesses and experiences
- Infrastructure improvements along Route 66, including directional signage and historical markers
- Events or activations that drive visitation to Route 66 districts
- As we are in the Route 66 Centennial year, Albuquerque has a unique opportunity to elevate its position as one of the most authentic and vibrant destinations along the historic corridor. Projects that celebrate, enhance or reimagine Route 66 experiences help strengthen Albuquerque’s national and international visibility while supporting local businesses.
- Transportation & Connectivity
- Improving how visitors move throughout Albuquerque enhances accessibility, encourages exploration beyond primary corridors, and increases economic impact across neighborhoods. Projects that create new or improved transportation options help visitors experience more of the city while supporting local businesses.
- Establishment of a neighborhood circulator shuttle system
- Capturing visitors to Santa Fe by providing additional transportation options to Albuquerque
- Transportation solutions connecting visitor districts or attractions
- Innovative mobility solutions that improve visitor navigation or accessibility
- Wayfinding or technology tools that improve visitor movement throughout the city
- Improving how visitors move throughout Albuquerque enhances accessibility, encourages exploration beyond primary corridors, and increases economic impact across neighborhoods. Projects that create new or improved transportation options help visitors experience more of the city while supporting local businesses.
- Downtown Development & Activation
- A vibrant downtown is essential to a strong visitor economy. Enhancing Albuquerque’s urban core supports conventions, meetings, events and year-round visitation throughout the city. Projects that activate and strengthen Downtown’s identity as a gathering place are strongly encouraged.
- Implementation of beautification projects to ensure a visually appealing, well-maintained and vibrant Downtown area
- Public space activations, markets, or recurring programming that draw visitors Downtown
- Collaborative initiatives that support Downtown businesses and visitor engagement
- A vibrant downtown is essential to a strong visitor economy. Enhancing Albuquerque’s urban core supports conventions, meetings, events and year-round visitation throughout the city. Projects that activate and strengthen Downtown’s identity as a gathering place are strongly encouraged.
Ongoing Needs
These categories reflect important, long-term opportunities identified in the Destination Master Plan that continue to strengthen Albuquerque’s tourism ecosystem. Projects aligned with these themes remain eligible for funding and play a vital role in diversifying visitor experiences and supporting sustainable tourism growth. While not prioritized at the same level as the High Priority Focus Areas for this funding cycle, strong projects that fall within the scope of these categories are encouraged and will continue to be considered.
- Culinary & Brewery Tourism
- Development of food trails and culinary tourism packages that highlight culinary spots in Albuquerque
- Creation of experiences such as farm tours, culinary workshops and dining events that highlight farm-to-table dining or unique Albuquerque cuisine
- Development of special-edition or limited-edition products, themed menus or packages, or other food and beverage offerings that capitalize on timely themes, landmark anniversaries or other events
- Outdoor Recreation
- Improvement, expansion and safety of trail network
- Creation or expansion of race events including running and cycling
- Arts and Cultural Heritage Tourism
- Development and promotion of cultural packages around key signature events
- Creation of cohesive museum trail experiences
- Enhancement and expansion of cultural tourism offerings.
Funding Information
- Innovator
- Visit Albuquerque Tourism Grant Innovator applicants may apply for up to $100,000 for project implementation.
- Incubator
- Visit Albuquerque Tourism Grant Incubator applicants may apply for up to $10,000 for project implementation.
Grant Period
July 2026-June 2027.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applicant organizations or businesses must be located in New Mexico and be registered as a federally recognized for-profit or nonprofit entity.
- For-profit entities are encouraged to consider applying for funding with a non-profit partner. Projects demonstrating collaboration between multiple community organizations of various sizes are more likely to receive grant funding. For-profit applicants without a nonprofit partner are strongly advised to research the tax implications of receiving a grant from this program.
- Funding payments may only be made to an applicant organization.
- In the event of a project scope change, grantees must notify and seek change approval from the
- Visit Albuquerque Tourism Grant program.
- Grantee organizations or businesses must be in good standing and not be in violation of any state, federal, or local laws or regulations.
- Grantee organizations must publicly recognize the funding support of Visit Albuquerque by following Visit Albuquerque branding requirements and displaying the Visit Albuquerque Tourism Grant Program logo.
- Grantee organizations or businesses must submit a written report to the Visit Albuquerque Tourism Grant program at the mid-point and / or end of the grant period which includes a financial report of how grant funds were utilized, and demonstrates project impact on the criteria set forth in the grant award.
- If the grant application is for an event, preference will be given to events that take place between November and March, in order to encourage visitation to Albuquerque during those months.
- Preference also will be given to projects that align with priorities identified in the Albuquerque Destination Master Plan, as outlined above.
For more information, visit Visit Albuquerque.
