Tourism is a priority in Carbon County.

That's why county officials created the tourism grant fund after they implemented the 3 percent hotel tax in February 2007.During the county commissioners' meeting on Thursday, the board approved the release of funds under a memorandum of understanding between Carbon County and the Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau that supports the grant initiatives in Carbon County.The memorandum authorizes the release of $48,676 from the Hotel Room Excise Tax fund for the county's tourism grant.A total of 17 nonprofit organization projects will benefit from the ongoing grant during this round of funding. The county distributes the grant multiple times a year.This grant round's recipients are:• Bear Mountain Sanctuary Foundation: $750 for 2016 marketing.• Carbon Chamber and Economic Development: $26,000 for marketing on tourism.• Carbon Chamber and Economic Development: $4,500 for the 2016 Jim Thorpe Birthday Celebration.• Carbon County Lion/Lioness Fair Association: $2,000 for the Carbon County Fair advertising and marketing.• Church of St. Joseph, Jim Thorpe: $950 for Oktoberfest.• D&L National Heritage Corridor: $2,500 for capturing trail tourism.• Franklin Township Volunteer Fire Company: $500 for advertising for fundraisers.• Friends of the Library (Jim Thorpe): $475 for the Hidden Gardens of Old Mauch Chunk.• Jim Thorpe Tourism Agency: $3,500 for marketing Jim Thorpe and Carbon County to the U.S. and Canada.• Lansford Alive: $500 for the coal car rededication at Kennedy Park.• Lehigh Gap Nature Center: $500 for National Pollinator Week.• Lehighton Borough: $2,500 for the 150th anniversary celebration.• Rotary Club of Jim Thorpe: $876 for ghost walks in Old Mauch Chunk.• Rotary Club of Lehighton: $125 for a homemade holiday craft show.• Summit Hill Heritage Center: $500 for advertising/logo/marketing project.• Summit Hill Historical Society: $500 for the 2016 Hootenanny.• Weatherly Hill Climb Association: $2,000 for the 2015 Weatherly Hill Climb.To date, Carbon County has distributed approximately $800,000 to nonprofit organizations to help promote tourism.The county receives a total of 50 percent of the hotel tax. Of the 50 percent, the county receives 20 percent, which it uses for improvements to Mauch Chunk Lake Park; 28 percent is put into the grant fund; and 2 percent goes toward administration fees.The remaining 50 percent goes to the Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau.The Carbon County Hotel Excise Tax, which includes a 3 percent tax on room rentals in hotels, motels, bed-and-breakfasts, and resorts in the county, was signed by the commissioners in 2007.The tax had been under negotiation since 2004, when commissioners voted down Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau's original proposal of a 20 percent revenue return on the money the tax would generate. They eventually negotiated a 50 percent revenue return to the county.To apply for a grant, visit carboncountypa.org/pages/HotelTaxGrant.