R.I. receives $10.6M from feds to support tourism, recreation and travel

RHODE ISLAND has been allocated $10.6 million in federal COVID-19 stimulus funds to support the state's tourism, travel and outdoor recreation industries. / AP FILE PHOTO/SUSAN WALSH

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island has been awarded a $10.6 million state tourism grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce, the department announced Monday.

Rhode Island was among 34 states and the District of Columbia to receive a combined $314 million grants from the American Rescue Plan State Travel, Tourism and Outdoor Recreation grants in this round of funding. The grants may be used for marketing, infrastructure, workforce and other projects designed to boost leisure, business and international travel, federal officials said.

Rhode Island will use the funds for marketing campaigns to promote state and regional assets, upgrades to existing tourism and outdoor recreation assets, and short- and long-term economic-development-planning projects in the state. The funds will also be used to alleviate economic damage to the state’s tourism, travel and recreation industry caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

More details on usage of the funds in the state were not immediately available.

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Massachusetts was allocated $16.2 million in funding from the grant program, as well. The Bay State is expected to use the funds for marketing and to alleviate COVID-19 caused tourism, travel and recreation industry impacts.

“Rebuilding the travel and tourism industry is a key component of the Biden Administration’s plan to build back better and restore the competitiveness of the United States on the global stage,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo in a statement. “The state tourism grants give states and territories the flexible opportunity to boost their local tourism industry and ensure that jobs are restored and tourists return safely.”

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