PARIS – For the third straight year, the Maine Department of Tourism has awarded marketing money to the Maine Lakes & Mountains Tourism Council.

The tourism department is granting $74,500 toward the council’s 2005 marketing campaign, according to Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce Executive Director John Williams. The grant is part of a $127,000 marketing budget, including an in-kind match of $44,450 and a cash match of $8,195.

The media plan consists of a print, television and radio campaign; a Web site expansion; a public relations effort and travel shows.

The campaign will reach markets throughout New England, Canada and New York. The travel shows will take place in Canada, Washington, Philadelphia and New York.

There will also be a Web site expansion, which Williams, the vice president of the nine-member council, said “is intended to create a more global response to our region, while developing a more comprehensive tracking system.”

The television and radio campaign will be concentrated regionally in the Boston market, and all of New England and Canada, with on-air radio promotions to destinations in the western Maine area.

Williams said Dina Jackson of the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments wrote the grant on behalf of the western Maine tourism council.

“We are very grateful for (AVCOG’s) assistance, especially when you consider how difficult it is trying to get directors from a wide regional area together to work on a concentrated campaign like this one,” he said. Williams said the cooperation level has been high among the chambers in the region in developing the yearly marketing campaigns.

More information may be obtained from Williams at the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce, at 213 Main St. in South Paris, or by calling 743-2281.