Savanna, Ill., sees a boost in its economy a year after being named the best small town for adventure by USA Today. The city has seen a 21% increase in tourism revenue.
Now a grant will help market businesses to those visitors.
Mayor Chris Lain said that, during the pandemic, the city of Savanna promoted its outdoor adventures with the hope that, when things would open back up, visitors would come to Savanna. Their plan worked.
“We kept our advertising going and really concentrated on those strengths that we have. We’re very outdoor-heavy here as far as tourism: You’ve got the river, you’ve got the state park, hiking, biking and boating,” said Lain.
With the rise in tourism revenue, the city wants to help its own businesses with new marketing grants.
“I think it’ll be extremely popular. We’re prepared for that. We put quite a bit of money into that,” said Lain. “It’ll be a marketing and signage grant. So if you need to update signage for your business, if you want to do brochures, cards anything like that, the city is going to match that at 50-percent.”
Money for this grant is coming from the city’s hotel/motel tax.
