The Council Bluffs Convention and Visitors Bureau has been awarded $1000 from the Western Iowa Tourism Region (WITR) to help provide funding for magazine advertising to attract Group Travel and to promote Culinary Tour itineraries. “Rise to the Occasion” is a new group travel itinerary created by Diane Hestness, Group Travel Director for the Council Bluffs CVB.  The itinerary is all about having a hand-on experience with foods.  Hestness says “Culinary tours are very popular right now. To secure new motor coach business, we created this tour that’s centered around culinary experiences in Council Bluffs and Pottawattamie County.”

In order to get a little help in publicizing this new itinerary, the CVB sought and was awarded a Western Iowa Tourism Grant.  WITR Regional Director, Michelle Walker, reports that western Iowa continues to see an increase in private and public investment in tourism related projects and services. And, WITR and the Travel Federation of Iowa continue to communicate about the economic significance of tourism by sharing the revenues received by local and state taxes and the number of travel related jobs.