Tourism in Campbell County Gets Wide Exposure with Print and Digital Advertising
Campbell County received a $60,000 ARPA Tourism Recovery Grant in 2022 for advertising and marketing intended to help drive visitation to the County. Drawing upon a portion of this resource, Campbell County has taken steps to widen the County’s visibility to out-of-the-area tourists. Economic Development has placed a series of advertisements in Blue Ridge Outdoors and The Virginia Sportsman magazines, which will be rolled out starting in March 2023. Campbell County has also joined the Fish Virginia First affiliate website.
Blue Ridge Outdoors reaches over 350,000 engaged readers. It is a free publication that is distributed to locations from Pennsylvania to Georgia. The first advertisement will appear on page 38 of the issue in a Special Advertising Section on fishing in the March 2023 Spring Fishing Issue. Future advertisements will include a spotlight on the new Geocaching Trail from the Parks and Recreation Department for the Outdoor Family Issue and then it’s back to the Staunton River for the Paddling Issue (June) and Fall Fishing and Hiking Issue (October).
The Spring Issue of The Virginia Sportsman Magazine will include a promotion for the Brookneal Catfish Tournament sponsored by the Staunton River Masonic Lodge #155 (brooknealfishingtournament.com). One of a pair of popular, but mostly local, fishing tournaments over the weekend of April 21-23, 2023, this kind of multi-day event attraction was particularly suited to the publication, a quarterly lifestyle magazine that celebrates sporting life and culture and features outdoor activities such as fly fishing, hunting, equestrian activities and more. In person and mail in registrations are still being accepted for both tournaments. Both advance registration and sponsorship opportunities will be available on the new website for the Catfish Tournament, which will hopefully draw out of town visitors and increase registrations and sponsorships for the tournament.
Tourism spending in Campbell County totaled $112 million in 2021 and is expected to continue to rise. In keeping with Virginia’s Statewide Strategic Tourism Plan recommendation to develop outdoor recreation opportunities, much of the advertising spending is devoted to increasing visitation on the Staunton River, which connects the Town of Altavista and the Town of Brookneal. In addition to the Blue Ridge Outdoors and Virginia Sportsman ads, Campbell County has partnered with a regional tourism effort called “Fish Virginia First". This affiliation will also increase Campbell’s visibility with fishing enthusiasts.