Germantown approves Chamber funding for 2026 tourism promotions, including visitor guide and parade support

The Germantown Tourism Commission voted to approve the Germantown Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2026 tourism funding request, which includes print and digital visitor guides, video-tour promotion, quarterly out-of-area ads and funding support for the Fourth of July parade.

The Chamber representative (Unidentified Speaker 2) outlined the packet of line items and said the group is shifting some emphasis from a biennial printed community guide to more digital marketing. “There’s an estimated 6,000,000 plays of our community guide and things that are going in whatever videos we wanna do, for the year,” Unidentified Speaker 2 said, and noted a roughly $3,000 digital-marketing cost for expanded distribution in the Milwaukee area.

Commissioners discussed a program of free chamber membership for local hotels funded from hotel-tax receipts; the presenter said that initiative began last year as a way to directly benefit lodging businesses from hotel-tax funds. Commissioners also noted Tannenbaum Trail needs required fewer funds this year because signage and placements are already in place.

After discussion, a motion to approve the Chamber’s 2026 tourism funding request was moved (Unidentified Speaker 5) and seconded; the chair called a voice vote. One member (Unidentified Speaker 2) recorded an abstention; the motion carried.

The commission did not specify a single-line total for the Chamber packet in the meeting transcript; additional budget detail is in the materials distributed to commissioners and may be reported at a later agenda check-in.