Grant To Support Black History, Culture Marketing In Alexandria

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Visit Alexandria will use a $20,000 grant from the Virginia Tourism Corporation’s Recovery Marketing Leverage Program to boost Black history, culture and business marketing efforts.

Expanded marketing efforts for Black history and experiences expands on a 2019 renewed commitment to racial equity by the city government, Office of Historic Alexandria and Visit Alexandria. This focus become more prominent as Black Lives Matter movement gained traction earlier in 2020. Visit Alexandria worked with Alexandria Black History Museum Director Audrey Davis on quick-response strategies, including information on Juneteenth after it was declared a state holiday. The organization also produced a blog post titled "24 Black-Owned Businesses in Alexandria to Support Right Now," which set a record for the most page views the VisitALX blog received in a day and became the 2020 blog post.

Continuing into the holiday season, Visit Alexandria shared Black-Owned Alexandria Businesses to Buy from This Holiday Season and supported Facebook’s Buy Black Friday campaign across holiday webpage content. Visit Alexandria has also been able to secure high profile news coverage about Alexandria Black history experiences in Condé Nast Traveler, Forbes, Frommer’s Travel and more.

In 2021, Visit Alexandria will have new Black history and culture video and photo assets for marketing and public relations efforts and new editorial stories in the 2021 Official Visitor Guide. These assets will highlight Alexandria Black-owned businesses, African American heritage sites along the Courageous Journey: Alexandria’s Black History Driving Tour and Duke Street Black History Trail and more in 2021 and beyond.

The grant received by Visit Alexandria is geared toward helping local and regional tourism entities attract more visitors with state grant funds matching local dollars. With the COVID-19 pandemic having a severe impact on travel and hospitality industries, this assistance is considered as a first step to reentering the marketplace to spur economic activity and future travel in Virginia. The Virginia Tourism Corporation's program awarded more than $1.9 million in matching grant funds to 161 local tourism initiatives, ultimately impacting 483 statewide tourism entities.