Visit Quad Cities could get $500,000 from Scott County’s COVID-19 relief money under a contract that goes before supervisors Thursday.
At least one supervisor is skeptical of setting aside a half-million dollars for tourism more than three years after the pandemic began.
Dave Herrell, CEO of the nonprofit Visit Quad Cities, told supervisors the area’s tourism spending, which helps drive local sales tax, still was not back to 2019 levels. Every community in the U.S. is competing to attract tourists, he said.
When allocating Scott County’s $33.6 million in ARPA funds in 2021, then-supervisors set aside $500,000 for tourism because the industry was hard hit by pandemic closures.
An initial miscommunication stalled work on a contract between the county and Visit until February, when staff began work on an agreement for services that would adhere to the U.S….
