The Events Marketing Program is offered through the Lee County Tourist Development Council each fiscal year. The program was established to assist local organizers in promoting their events in Lee County, during the off-peak season.

The Tourist Development Council adopted a two-percent tourist tax collection in 1982, which was increased to three percent in 1988, and to five percent in 2006. The funding for the Events Marketing Program comes from a portion of the tourist tax collections.

This program provides reimbursable funding assistance for advertising and promotional efforts to not-for-profit organizations with the ultimate goal of generating additional night stays in Lee County hotels.

The event marketing funding request cycle begins each year by early March and closes sometime in April. The current criteria can be viewed in the application packet located in the "forms"’ section of this page.

The event marketing funding requests for fiscal year 2009-10 funding cycle were reviewed by the TDC event marketing subcommittee on May 13 and approved by the full Tourist Development Council on June 12. The Board of County Commissioners approved them during the regular budget approval process on September 17, 2009. To view a list of the projects click here.

For more information contact Nancy MacPhee at 239-338-3500 or nmacphee@leegov.com