Tourism is an Essential Investment
Every community must compete with every other community for their share of the world’s tourist market, attention, customers, and investment.
To compete, people need to be aware of a community, to have a positive impression, and want to visit to experience the community and meet its people.
Strategic efforts must be made to promote, market, sell, and engage potential visitors consistently, year after year.
Tourism is an essential investment to develop opportunities and build the quality of life to benefit all the residents of a community. Tourism delivers economic impact and stewardship, both crucial components to our ecosystems.
2024 saw visitor spending in Colorado reached record spending of $28.5 Billion. Tourism generated $1.9 billion in local and state tax revenues in 2024. Tourism directly supported 188,210 jobs. Additionally, 282,315 more jobs were supported indirectly through tourism related sectors.
The Role a DMO Plays
It all starts with a visit and that visit doesn't happen without us.
“If you build a place where people want to visit, you’ll build a place where people want to live. If you build a place where people want to live, you’ll build a place where people want to work. If you build a place where people want to work, you’ll build a place where business wants to be. And, if you build a place where business wants to be, we’ll be back to building a place where people want to visit. It all starts with the visit and that visit doesn’t happen without us.” ~ Maura Gast, CEO Visit Irving, TX
The work of a DMO is to tell our communities story. It works in tandem with the State of Colorado’s Tourism Office. Together we drive investment and additional opportunities to deliver positive economic impacts and support jobs.
We are stewards of our communities. We increase the quality of life for our residents and we are the keepers of the brands that distinguish ourselves from others, honoring the authentic stories that only we can tell.
Credit: Maura Gast, CEO Visit Irving, TX and Destinations International