Pilot Community Tourism Grant Program

Important Announcement: The Pilot Community Tourism Grant Program has been revised, and it now has a new name. Please visit the Montana Tourism Development Grant Program webpage for more information.

In 2025, the passage of Senate Bill 409 revised laws related to the Montana Department of Commerce and the lodging facility use tax, commonly known as the bed tax. The bill updates SB 540, which passed in 2023, restructuring the allocation of bed tax revenue by specifying how Commerce can use these funds for purposes like tourism promotion and grants. 

The Pilot Community Tourism Grant Program is a state-funded opportunity building tourism in a manageable, sustainable way that can stimulate and diversify Montana’s local economy, protect and enhance local resources and foster community pride without compromising the qualities that make local communities so special.

The purpose of the PCTGP is to elevate communities across the state, increase their economic vibrancy by improving their appeal as visitor destinations and improve their resilience as a destination by enhancing and diversifying tourism assets and infrastructure. Through this program, communities can cultivate regional visions, identify strategies to harness the power of tourism and develop unique experiences in tourism.

Cohort 1

• Anaconda Deer Lodge County: Elevate Anaconda Winter and Cool Season Tourism Development
• Blackfeet Nation: Blackfeet Tribe Pilot Community Tourism
• Big Timber: Crazy Mountain Collective — Collectively Cultivating a Roadmap for Tourism Success
• Broadus: Building a Better Broadus
• Garfield County: Garfield County Community Tourism #BigSkyOnTheBigDry
• Havre: Havre Tourism Enhancement Project
• Ronan: Building a Thriving Rural Region Through Placemaking, Downtown Revitalization and Strategic Tourism Infrastructure

Cohort 2:

• Choteau: Celebrating our Heritage, Cultivating our Future
• Fort Benton: Destination Fort Benton Tourism and Recreation
• Glasgow: Explore Glasgow: Trails, Events Pavilion and Sports Hub
• Glendive: A Thriving Tourism Hub for All
• Hardin: Big Horn Tourism Breakthrough
• Red Lodge: Tourism Development Project
• Tribal Tourism Region: Indigenous Experience: People, Places and Pathways

Resources for Applicants:

• Refer to the Pilot Community Tourism Grant Program Guidelines to learn about the Pilot Program. 
• Refer to the Montana Tourism Regions Map for a quick look at the seven tourism regions.

Additional Resources:

• The Outdoor Recreation Roundtable Rural Economic Development Toolkit is an online toolkit to provide strategies for success to achieve intersecting goals of healthy communities, high quality of life, robust businesses, resilient economies and vibrant outdoor places.
• The Tourism Assessment Process PDF is a workbook designed to link communities, tourism and conservation with tools that are research-based which reflect principles of sustainable and ecotourism development.
• The Way Forward PDF is a provincial tourism product development plan to reach a people- and program-based collective tourism vision to increase tourism visitation and spending.
• The UN World Tourism Organization PDF is a handbook on tourism product development including model approaches for various and unique destinations.
• The Destination Development Channel provides how-to videos on destination marketing and development topics including case studies and new ideas to supercharge tourism efforts.
• Using the Main Street America approach to downtown revitalization, the Montana Main Street Program offers technical assistance to communities striving for economic vitality while maintaining local historic integrity, quality of life and a sense of place.