Agency History

The West Virginia Department of Tourism, formerly known as the West Virginia Division of Tourism, promotes the state of West Virginia as a world-class, four-season travel and tourism destination through print, broadcast, and more recently digital and social media efforts. The West Virginia Department of Tourism is led by an appointed Department Secretary and advised by a 15-member Tourism Advisory Council.

The West Virginia Department of Tourism was reorganized and renamed with the Tourism Act of 2017, effective July 7 of that year. Previous legislation in 2005 created the Department of Commerce and made Tourism a division of the new department. Prior to that, the Bureau of Tourism and Commerce was a combined agency with oversight for many of the agencies now part of Commerce.