BUTTE - Montana's tourism industry had cause to celebrate on Tuesday when Travelocity, the global travel company, announced a big gift at the Montana Economic Development Summit.

With great fanfare - and a giant check - Sam Gilliland, CEO of the company, announced that Travelocity is investing $500,000 to help promote Montana tourism and will give $10,000 to the inaugural Montana Folk Festival in Butte.

Bringing more tourists to Montana is cause to celebrate, came the response from Secretary of State Linda McCulloch. To wit: More than 10 million visitors came to the state in 2009 and spent $3 billion while they were here.

But Montana relies heavily on travel companies - including Travelocity - to get out the word about the state's beauty and culture.

Travelocity's $500,000 promotion will be a four-month blitzkrieg to market the state and all it has to offer, Gilliland said. To get the project started, the company and its famous traveling gnome spent the past eight days exploring out-of-the-way places and iconic state treasures.

Making a point, Gilliland showed photos of the many places the gnome visited, provoking guffaws when the trademark elf showed up at the Missoula Club bar.