The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding $196 million in American Rescue Plan grants to 24 U.S. States and territories.
The American Rescue Plan stimulus package, signed into law in March 2021, allocates its $3 billion in funding across six different programs with specific initiatives to advance a range of economic recovery and resilience efforts in communities affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The recently awarded grants are funded through the rescue plan’s Travel, Tourism & Outdoor Recreation program and will support marketing, infrastructure, workforce and other projects to encourage safe leisure, business and international travel, EDA said Wednesday.
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said the grants will help rebuild the travel and tourism industry and restore the nation’s position as a global competitor while aligning with the Biden Administration’s Build Back Better initiative.
The $750 million Travel, Tourism & Outdoor Recreation program is comprised of $510 million in State Tourism grants as well as $240 million in Competitive Tourism grants.
“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,” Raimondo explained.
All 59 U.S. states and territories have received State Tourism grants with this most recent batch of awards.
In November, EDA awarded 34 states and the District of Columbia with the first round of grants under the Travel, Tourism & Outdoor Recreation program, and the administration also awarded 30 states with $1 million grants as part of its Statewide Planning Program.
States awarded through this round of grants include:
- Alabama
- American Samoa
- California
- Florida
- Georgia
- Guam
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Kentucky
- Northern Mariana Islands
- Republic of Marshall Islands
- Federated States of Micronesia
- Mississippi
- New Jersey
- North Carolina
- Oregon
- Republic of Palau
- Pennsylvania
- Puerto Rico
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- U.S. Virgin Islands
- Virginia
- West Virginia