ZELIENOPLE — New state funds will give the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau more resources for marketing and promoting.

The bureau will receive $125,441 as well as a portion of a $1.4 million state grant to Pittsburgh and its Countryside, an eight-county region of which Butler is part.

The money will be spent on trade shows, national publications and other marketing plans that the groups otherwise couldn't afford, said Jack Cohen, county bureau executive director and chairman of Pittsburgh and its Countryside.

"It gives us the opportunity to tell more people all the wonderful things we have here," he said.

While the amount seems large, Cohen said about $12,000 will be spent for two representatives to spend four days promoting the region in May at the International Pow Wow in Miami, Fla.

The event features more than 1,000 U.S. travel organizations and nearly 1,500 international and domestic buyers from more than 70 countries that conduct business negotiations that result in more than $3.5 billion in future travel in the United States, according to the Web site www.tia.org/powwow.

Gov. Ed Rendell on Friday announced $15.6 million in state funds would be invested in tourism promotion statewide.

Rendell this summer signed Act 50, which is tourism promotion assistance legislation to replace an older matching funds grant program.

Last year the county bureau received $32,000 from the state.

Cohen said his team prompted state officials to revise the way state grants were distributed, leading to Act 50 and a $93,000 increase in state funding.

"Because we did our job and forced them to do theirs, we got what we deserved," Cohen said.

The county tourism budget for the fiscal year that began July 1 is slightly more than $1 million.