DENVER
In conjunction with National Travel and Tourism Week, the Colorado Tourism Office (CTO) team will embark on a five-day, eight-city loop across the state May 8-12, 2017, for its second annual Discover Colorado Roadshow. This year’s Roadshow is aimed at educating tourism stakeholders about how they can connect with new initiatives in the new Colorado Tourism Roadmap.

Winding up a 10-month effort, the Roadmap was adopted in March by the Colorado Tourism Board as a statewide strategic plan aimed at building the state’s competitive advantage as a top national vacation destination.

“The goal of our Roadmap is to drive the potential of the Colorado tourism industry by creating conditions that drive the right kind of growth, with maximum economic benefit and minimum impact,” said Cathy Ritter, director of the Colorado Tourism Office. “We are excited to hit the road and begin working on ways to bring the Roadmap to life though closer collaboration, creation of new traveler experiences and a fresh focus on sustainable tourism.”

Traveling on a motor coach wrapped in the state’s highly successful “Come to Life” message, the CTO team will share a new video explaining the Roadmap as well as insights into new tourism initiatives during presentations in Golden, Aurora, Burlington, Wiggins, Fort Collins, Steamboat Springs, Meeker and Glenwood Springs.

Participants will take part in several tourism-related activities along the way, including a “High Noon”-style shootout in the streets of Burlington’s Old Town; Fort Collins’ 8^th Annual National Tourism Week Luncheon and a volunteer activity in Fort Collins and Vail to highlight a new focus on sustainable tourism.

The roadshow will also celebrate National Travel and Tourism Week by recognizing 12 outstanding frontline tourism workers, several of whom will be honored along the route. More information on the frontline tourism workers can be found at http://industry.colorado.com/2017-exceptional-frontline-worker-nominees.

10 a.m.: Roadshow presentation at the Golden Visitor Center – Golden

1:30 p.m.: Roadshow presentation at Stanley Marketplace – Aurora

7:30 p.m.: Roadshow presentation at the Old Town Museum – Burlington

2 p.m.: Roadshow presentation at Longmeadow Event Center – Wiggins

10:30 a.m.: Roadshow presentation at the Hilton – Fort Collins

2:30 p.m.: Roadshow presentation at Mountain Valley Bank – Meeker

9 a.m.: Roadshow presentation at Centennial Hall – Steamboat Springs

9 a.m.: Roadshow presentation at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park – Glenwood Springs

Tourism is one of Colorado’s most important industries. In 2015 Colorado set all-time records welcoming 77.7 million visitors to the state who spent $19.1 billion and generated $1.13 billion in tax revenue. The 2016 travel year research will be released in June 2017.