A state grant will help Cape Girardeau and Sikeston attract more visitors, Sen. Jason Crowell announced this week.

The grants, $36,750 for the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau and $25,000 for the Sikeston/Miner Convention and Visitors Bureau, must be matched by local money. For Cape Girardeau, the grant will support the "Here ... You Will Find" ad campaign in regional travel and general circulation magazines. For Sikeston/Miner, the grant will support promotion of leisure travel.

In a news release, Crowell said the collaboration of state and local money helps economic development efforts that benefit both.

For Cape Girardeau, it is the fifth consecutive year the Convention and Visitors Bureau has received the grant funding, executive director Chuck Martin said. The bureau uses it to buy ads in the magazines produced by the Missouri, Illinois and Arkansas AAA groups, as well as more general circulation magazines like Missouri Life, Better Homes & Gardens and Good Housekeeping.

The ads this year will focus on heritage tourism. They will feature Bollinger Mill, the Trail of Tears and the floodwall mural, Martin said. Each ad will be themed to the attraction, such as "Here ... You Will Find a Bridge to the Past" for Bollinger Mill, an ad that plays on the historic covered bridge at the site.

To track the effectiveness of each ad, the Convention and Visitors Bureau has a webpage dedicated to each attraction with a web address but with no link from the bureau's main page. That allows for more accurate tracking of web traffic, Martin said.

"We have determined that our primary reach is within a 200-mile radius," Martin said. By working with hotels to find where visitors originate, he said, "we have a great idea on where to target advertising."

One of the grant requirements is to report back to the state how well the advertising supported by the grant encourages interest in the community, Martin said.

The most attractive tourism destinations Cape Girardeau offers are for heritage tourism, which means emphasizing the history that can be discovered here, Martin said.

The focus will likely change when the city's family aquatic center is finished next year and when the Discovery Playhouse, a children's museum, reopens in new quarters on Broadway, Martin said.

"One thing people consistently ask us is what do we have that is geared toward children," Martin said.

The Sikeston/Miner Convention and Visitors Bureau did not return a call seeking comment.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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