A staff member reporting for Lake County's tourism panel said the panel will pursue a Colorado Tourism Office grant, expand marketing channels, and run resident, business and visitor sentiment surveys in 2026 to help raise off‑peak lodging demand and support local businesses.

The plan combines short‑term actions — a new website, regular social posts and coordinated packages with lodging and restaurants — with longer‑term data work to measure impacts. "We are going to go after a grant through the Colorado tourism office to do this," the staff member said, citing a plan to buy roughly 100 hours of consultant time to run a visitor survey and analyze lookalike audiences on platforms such as Meta.

Why it matters: Lake County relies on seasonal visitation and lodging tax revenue. The tourism panel framed the strategy around a stated goal of lifting off‑peak visitation 3 percent; the panel reported a 1.6 percent increase in off‑peak visitation in 2025 and said it does not expect that trend to reverse. The panel also presented web and engagement metrics it said demonstrate growing reach: "Our web traffic in September was up 68% from last year," and the staff member said year‑to‑date web traffic was up 123 percent with the new website. Social engagement was described as "up over 200% year over year." These figures were presented by the staff member during the meeting.

Key elements of the panel's approach include:

- Data partnerships and targeting: The panel described working with DataFi and an AI analyst volunteer to obtain demographic and psychographic insights for target markets such as Dallas–Fort Worth and Minneapolis, allowing more targeted campaigns and off‑peak promotions. The staff member said meta lookalike recruitment might yield "300 to 500" usable survey responses if average response rates hold.

- Visitor and business surveys: The panel said it will conduct resident, business and visitor sentiment surveys in 2026 (the last similar survey was done in 2023). The surveys are intended to measure lodging demand, seasonality and barriers to visitation.

- Events and packages: The panel plans recurring winter events and monthly winter draws, including Fat Bike Worlds (which the staff member said had record attendance in 2024 and will return in 2026), a proposed fat‑biking and sauna festival, continued promotion of a Twin Lakes skating season, and an effort to package inexpensive local experiences with restaurants and Ski Cooper where partnerships allow.

- Destination stewardship and community engagement: The panel intends to embed sustainable tourism practices through the Destination Stewardship Initiative and noted a recurring Runners Republic Lands volunteer event that drew about 30 to 40 visiting participants who stayed multiple nights and volunteered with local food access organizations.

The staff member highlighted recent national press attention — naming Scary Mommy, Travel + Leisure and AFAR — and credited coordinated outreach and a new, content‑rich website for improved organic traffic. The panel reported that a small team posts regularly and performs social listening and rapid comment responses as part of the improved approach.

No formal board motion or vote on these strategies was reported during the discussion. The items described were presented as plans and next steps; the staff member said the panel will seek external grant funding and continue partnerships to implement the work. "We set the goal of achieving a 3% increase in off peak visitation and we're up about 1.6% in 2025," the staff member said, framing that target as the basis for continued campaigns.

The panel noted partnership challenges: Ski Cooper was described as reluctant to participate in packaged promotions because of organizational ties to Summit County, and the staff member said efforts to build closer cooperation are ongoing. The panel also flagged that some seasonal assets and volunteer‑run activities affect promotion opportunities and require careful messaging around safety and timing.

The presentation concluded with a preview of an unspecified local announcement the staff member said was days away and would be promoted when ready. The panel continues to emphasize data tracking, partnership development, and monthly winter programming as the primary tools to increase off‑peak visitation and support the local economy.