As part of their Industry Outreach Program, the Colorado Tourism Office (CTO) is bringing their Regional Roadshow to Eagle County’s tourism community in an effort to help grow tourism businesses, attractions and destinations by sharing up-to-date trends, relevant travel and tourism research, advertising opportunities, marketing plans and information on other tourism programs.
This free event is open to all businesses and will take place June 14 at Manor Vail Lodge from 9:30 – 11:00am.
The CTO is doing great things to promote Colorado as a vacation destination. Join us to learn how your business can benefit and piggyback on these efforts.
As background to the local business community, the Colorado Tourism Office receives an annual appropriation of approximately $14 million to promote Colorado to potential tourists through a domestic and international advertising, marketing and public relations campaign, the Official State Vacation Guide and Official State Map, Colorado.com and by providing traveler services at state Welcome Centers.
Come to the road show and learn how your business can leverage the state efforts to drive tourism and destination guest traffic to Colorado. The Colorado Tourism Office has developed a targeted and strategic national and regional domestic advertising campaign, marketing to travelers through broadcast, print and online media. The purpose of the campaign is to inspire potential visitors to take a vacation in Colorado. Many opportunities exist for local towns and businesses to leverage the CTO’s effort – via free business listings, matching grand programs and social media programs.
As part of the “road show”, representatives will be talking about the Official State Vacation Guide (OSVG), which provides valuable travel information to inspire and help tourists plan their trips to Colorado. COLORADO.com further promotes the Colorado brand and provides comprehensive tourist information on what to see and do year-round while in the state. The website provides planning tools, along with added inspiration to book a Colorado vacation. Opportunities exist to promote your business at no cost.
A key component of the road show will be to educate the business community on the updated plans for the Official State Vacation Guide. The updated publication will offer a more targeted opportunity for seasonal businesses and other enhancements.
An additional integral part of the Colorado Tourism Office promotional efforts is the operation of a network of tourist information centers or “Welcome Centers.” Currently, there are 10 facilities, strategically located at high-volume entry points into the state and at Red Rocks near Denver. The Welcome Centers greet approximately one million visitors a year. The Vail Valley Partnership, as the official destination marketing organization for the Vail Valley, works with each of these visitor centers to distribute our Visit Vail Valley Official Visitors Guide to the over one million annual visitors to the welcome centers.
The CTO has also recently launched a new brand campaign, “COLORADO, come to life”. The new brand campaign includes website enhancements and year-round efforts to promote the state as well as events and destinations within the state.
There’s a lot going on at the Colorado Tourism Office and their efforts to promote the state. We encourage all interested businesses to attend the free CTO Road Show on June 14 at Manor Vail to learn how your business can benefit. Please send all RSVPs to Kristina Johnson by Monday, June 11.
What can your business do to help? If you benefit from these community resources and value the destination marketing and other benefits offered to members, get off the sidelines and join the Partnership. If you are already a member, tell your neighbors to join to help us do even more here in the valley.
As always, I encourage all member businesses to get engaged with the Partnership and to contact us with any suggestions you may have to help us better serve you and for non-members to join the Partnership. Call us at (970) 476-1000 or stop by our offices in Avon at Traer Creek Plaza to share your feedback.