Colorado Tourism talks inclusive growth, sustainability

“We’re put­ting our focus on gen­er­at­ing greatest fin­an­cial impact pos­sible from exist­ing vis­it­ors,” CTO Dir­ect­or Cathy Ritter reportedly said. “Every corner has the oppor­tun­ity to bene­fit from travel spending.”

The US state’s new tour­ism cam­paign is guided by four pillars:

• • Com­pete: Strengthen Col­or­ado’s com­pet­it­ive pos­i­tion and the resi­li­ence of its tour­ism industry.
  • Cre­ate: Increase vis­it­a­tion through cre­ation and brand­ing of new trav­el­er experiences.
  • Stew­ard: Pro­tect the integ­rity of Col­or­ado resources through sus­tain­able tourism.
  • Advoc­ate: Com­mu­nic­ate the power of tour­ism to drive eco­nom­ic and life­style benefits.

Draw­ing vis­it­ors to less-fre­quen­ted spots is one aspect of stew­ard­ship, Ritter said.

Vail Daily cites the example of Glen­wood Canyon’s Hanging Lake, which is “a must-see spot for many vis­it­ors but the trail often sees more traffic than it can reas­on­ably sus­tain. The tour­ism office’s plan would work to draw atten­tion to less-traf­ficked areas, thereby pre­serving nat­ur­al resources while spread­ing fin­an­cial bene­fit to all corners of the state.”

The plan includes both vis­it­or-facing and industry-facing aspects. An example of a vis­it­or-facing com­pon­ent is the CTO web­site’s itin­er­ary build­er. And the site will help edu­cate vis­it­ors about sustainability.

CTO will also offer co-oper­at­ive mar­ket­ing pro­grams to industry.

“It’s about com­ing togeth­er and under­stand­ing what you have in the com­munity and how to con­nect the dots,” said Jill Lam­mer, CTO’s dir­ect­or of her­it­age and agritourism.

Full story at Vail Daily.

Colorado Tourism’s road map

In March 2017, the Col­or­ado Tour­ism Board approved the Col­or­ado Tour­ism Roadmap, “a com­pre­hens­ive stra­tegic plan to build the Col­or­ado tour­ism industry’s com­pet­it­ive advant­age through closer col­lab­or­a­tion, cre­ation of new trav­el­er exper­i­ences across the state and a fresh focus on sus­tain­able tourism”.

Download

Down­load the Roadmap (hos­ted offsite).