Visit Estes Park will bring business owners, community leaders, and tourism partners together Tuesday to examine how the visitor economy shapes Estes Park — and how the community can manage it in the years ahead.
The annual Tourism Summit will take place from 8:30 a.m. to noon at the Holiday Inn Estes Park. It is open to tourism professionals and community members interested in the visitor economy.
The summit will feature a “State of the Industry” keynote address covering tourism data, partnerships and Visit Estes Park’s new Destination Stewardship Plan. An expert panel will discuss the opportunities and challenges facing local businesses and the broader community.
Visit Estes Park will also present its inaugural Tourism Awards, recognizing local employees, teams, organizations, and ideas that contribute to the industry.
Nominees for the Nick Mollé Tourism Legacy Award, which recognizes creative storytelling that inspires connection to and protection of the natural world, include John Berry, Bruce Davies, and James H. Pickering.
Nominees for the Tourism Dream Team Award, which recognizes a team that demonstrates collaboration while providing outstanding visitor experiences include Poppy’s & Mama Rose’s, Rocky Mountain Channel, and The Taffy Shop.
Nominees for the Visitor Champion Volunteer Award, honoring volunteers who go above and beyond to create welcoming and memorable experiences for visitors, include the Estes Park Police Department Auxiliary Unit, Kate Arterburn, and Velina Davidson.
Nominees for the Visitor Engagement and Place Steward Award, recognizing a business that provides exceptional visitor experiences while demonstrating a commitment to community stewardship, include Creativity Cabin, the Egg of Estes, the Estes Park Mountain Shop, and Inkwell & Brew.
The summit comes as Visit Estes Park expands its focus beyond attracting travelers to destination stewardship — balancing tourism’s economic benefits with environmental protection, residents’ quality of life and community character.
Estes Park has never lacked scenery
Longs Peak rises above the valley. Elk wander through town. Rocky Mountain National Park draws travelers from around the world. Historic lodges, locally owned shops, restaurants, festivals and outdoor recreation give visitors reasons to stay after entering the park’s gateway community.
But Colorado learned a costly lesson three decades ago: Spectacular scenery does not market itself.
In 1993, Colorado became the only state in the nation to eliminate its tourism-marketing function. The state cut a $12 million promotional budget to zero after voters rejected extending a dedicated tourism tax.
Within two years, Colorado lost 30% of its share of the domestic tourism market, according to Longwoods International, a visitor research firm that had tracked travel to the state since 1986. The decline represented more than $1.4 billion a year in lost tourism revenue. By the late 1990s, the estimated annual loss had climbed to $2.4 billion.
In the summer resort category, Colorado fell from first place among states to 17th. Longwoods later described the state’s experience as a cautionary tale about what happens when a destination stops reminding travelers why they should visit.
Lawmakers restored the Colorado Tourism Office with a $5 million promotional budget in 2000. Research conducted over the following years showed the renewed marketing produced a return of more than $12 in state and local tax revenue for every dollar invested.
The state increased the tourism-promotion budget to $19 million in 2006, allowing Colorado to advertise in more markets and across more seasons. But Colorado did not regain its lost tourism market share until 2015 — more than two decades after marketing stopped.
That history provides a backdrop for understanding the evolution of Visit Estes Park.
From a town department to a visitors bureau
Long before Visit Estes Park existed, the Town of Estes Park managed the community’s tourism promotion through a three-employee marketing department financed by the town.
In July 2004, the town began expanding the department into a Convention and Visitors Bureau, commonly known as a CVB.
The CVB gave Estes Park a more formal structure for marketing the destination, attracting group travel, assisting visitors and working with lodging properties, restaurants, attractions and other tourism-related businesses. It remained dependent on town funding, however.
That changed several years later when voters approved a dedicated local revenue source and an independent governmental district to oversee it.
Voters create a local marketing district
Area voters established the Estes Park Local Marketing District in 2008 to manage, market and promote tourism throughout the Estes Valley. The district began operating Jan. 1, 2009, and now does business as Visit Estes Park.
A local marketing district is a special-purpose governmental entity authorized under Colorado law to promote tourism, economic activity and events within a defined area.
Creating the district moved tourism promotion from a town department to a regional organization supported by a dedicated lodging tax. Its boundaries include lodging properties inside Estes Park and in surrounding parts of the Estes Valley.
The structure also insulated local tourism promotion from changes in the town’s general fund and fluctuations in state tourism spending. Rather than relying primarily on annual appropriations, Visit Estes Park receives revenue generated by overnight stays within the district.
Visit Estes Park is the area’s official destination marketing organization and is accredited through Destinations International. It is among more than 40 destination organizations represented by the Colorado Association of Destination Marketing Organizations.
How Visit Estes Park is funded
Visit Estes Park is funded primarily through a 5.5% lodging tax on overnight stays of fewer than 30 days within the district. The tax applies to hotels, motels, campgrounds, vacation rentals and similar accommodations. Guests pay the tax, and lodging providers collect and remit it.
The first 2 percentage points provide Visit Estes Park’s base funding for tourism marketing, visitor services and efforts to promote year-round travel.
The remaining 3.5 percentage points came from Ballot Issue 6E, which district voters approved in 2022 after the Colorado General Assembly expanded the permitted uses of lodging-tax revenue.
The measure connected the visitor economy to two of the community’s persistent needs: workforce housing and childcare. Ninety percent of the revenue from the additional 3.5% tax is passed through to the Town of Estes Park for those purposes. Visit Estes Park retains 10% for marketing and visitor education.
The Estes Park Town Board and Larimer County commissioners review Visit Estes Park’s annual budget and operating plan, reflecting the district’s coverage inside and outside town limits.
The lodging tax provides a multimillion-dollar funding base for managing the visitor economy. Although Visit Estes Park works with the Colorado Tourism Office and other statewide partners, its core operations do not depend on the state maintaining a particular level of tourism funding.
That distinction matters considering what happened when Colorado tourism promotion disappeared in the 1990s. If state funding changes, the Estes Valley retains a local revenue source dedicated to promoting and managing tourism — its primary industry.
What a destination marketing organization does
Visit Estes Park promotes local lodging, dining, shopping, events, outdoor recreation and other visitor experiences. Its work includes advertising, public relations, visitor information, research, business partnerships and efforts to encourage travel outside the busiest summer periods.
Destination marketing puts Estes Park in front of travelers as they decide where to go. The area competes with mountain destinations in Colorado and other Western states.
Marketing also can influence when people visit. Estes Park may not need more travelers on its busiest summer weekends, but lodging properties, restaurants and retailers still need customers during quieter months. Promoting winter, spring and late-fall travel can help businesses retain employees, stabilize revenue and support a year-round economy.
From destination marketing to stewardship
The role of destination marketing organizations has changed since Colorado created its first state tourism board in 1983. For many years, the goal was straightforward: attract more visitors.
Visit Estes Park calls that expanded responsibility “destination stewardship.” For the Estes Valley, it means balancing a healthy visitor economy with conservation, community character and residents’ quality of life.
That can include encouraging responsible behavior around wildlife, promoting safe recreation, educating visitors about fire danger and reducing pressure during peak periods by attracting travelers in other seasons.
Tourism brings benefits and costs. Visitor spending supports lodging properties, restaurants, retailers, outfitters, entertainment venues and cultural organizations. It generates jobs and tax revenue for public services. It also can contribute to traffic, pressure on natural resources, housing demand and a shortage of workers who can afford to live near their jobs.
The 6E model addresses part of that tension by directing most of the newer lodging-tax revenue toward housing and childcare while preserving money for marketing and visitor education.
A competitive business
Tourism promotion can appear unnecessary in a place as famous as Estes Park. Rocky Mountain National Park is one of the nation’s most visited national parks, and generations of families have vacationed in the Estes Valley.
Colorado’s history suggests name recognition is not enough.
When the state stopped marketing in 1993, its mountains, national parks, ski areas and scenic highways remained. What disappeared was Colorado’s voice in a competitive travel market. Other states continued promoting their destinations, and travelers took their money elsewhere.
Visit Estes Park grew from a three-person town department into a Convention and Visitors Bureau and then a voter-created local marketing district. Its evolution reflects a recognition that tourism does not simply happen because the mountains are nearby. It is an industry that must be promoted, studied and managed.
The organization exists to keep the Estes Valley visible to travelers, but its work now extends beyond bringing people here. It also involves helping the community consider what kind of tourism it wants, when it wants visitors to come and how the benefits of travel can support the people who live and work in the valley.
Estes Park’s scenery may sell the destination once travelers see it. Colorado’s tourism history shows why someone still has to make sure they look.
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