Published: April 25, 2008 11:01 pm      

44 businesses share $272G from hotel tax

SOMERSET — Forty-four Somerset County tourist destinations will share more than $272,000 in grants for marketing and capital improvements.

The tourism grants, funded by a portion of the county’s hotel tax, were awarded Friday during a ceremony at the Oakhurst Tea Room in Jefferson Township.

Since the tax was implemented five years ago, it has generated more than $3 million, County Commissioner Jimmy Marker said.

“Tourism generates an incredible amount of wealth in our area,” Marker said.

The 114 applications received for the grants were a record, said Scott Bender, president of Seven Springs Mountain Resort and a member of the county’s tourism grant committee.

“It shows how well and alive tourism is in the Laurel Highlands of Western Pennsylvania,” Bender said.

The program is coordinated through the Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau, a tourism-promotion agency that serves Somerset, Fayette and Westmoreland counties.

The grants ranged from large attractions such as Seven Springs, the Farmers and Threshermens Jubilee in New Centerville and the Historical and Genealogical Society of Somerset County to governments, bed-and-breakfasts, campgrounds and community festivals.

Among the larger awards were $10,000 for development of the Quecreek Mine Rescue Foundation’s educational visitor’s center, $12,500 for streetscape improvements in Meyersdale, and $10,000 to enhance hiking and biking trails at Seven Springs.

Gingerbread House Bed and Breakfast, Rock City Cafe, Husky Haven Campground, and the Rockwood and Meyersdale Area historical societies were among the businesses and organizations along the Great Allegheny Passage hiking and biking trail that received grants.

“Our ridership on the trail continues to increase at a rapid rate,” Marker said. “People from all over the world come to ride the bike trail.”

Grant applications for next year’s program will be available after Nov. 30 through the Laurel Highlands Visitors Bureau, the Somerset County Commissioners’ Office and the Somerset County Chamber of Commerce.