New Mexico Tourism Department awarding $3.8 million in grant funding

The New Mexico Tourism Department is awarding $3.8 million in grant funding to 48 entities through the Cooperative Marketing Grant Program for fiscal year 2025.

NMTD is instituting a 2-to-1 funding match for FY25, meaning the monetary obligation from grant recipients is only 33% of the grant total provided by NMTD. Due to this 2-to-1 funding match, the total advertising investment for FY25 is an estimated $5.7 million.

“One of the reasons that our Cooperative Marketing Grant Program has become so popular and valuable over the years is due to the technical assistance and strategic planning that participants receive from the extended team,” said Acting Cabinet Secretary Lancing Adams. “I’m grateful that we have such an extensive team of tourism marketing specialists to help our tourism partners build captivating campaigns and sound strategy for FY25.”

NMTD committed a significant amount of grant funding for rural communities in FY25. Of the FY25 grant recipients, roughly 71% represented rural regions of the state. Rural regions of the state will receive $2.4 million in grant funding through this program. A total of $114,692 in grant funding was awarded to tribal and indigenous entities for FY25.

In addition to destinations and local governments, the program will also support a variety of institutions and facilities that focus on outdoor recreation and cultural heritage. In total, NMTD issued 11 grants to cultural institutions and four grants to outdoor recreation entities.

The Sandoval County Tourism Alliance was awarded a $34,000 Cooperative Marketing Grant.

The village of Ruidoso received the largest Cooperative Marketing Grant for FY25 at a total of $608,866. As a community that relies on tourism as an essential source of economic activity, this grant will help the village of Ruidoso reactivate tourism promotion when the community is ready.