Visit Colorado Springs (VisitCOS) presented its 2025–2028 destination master plan roadmap and a resident sentiment study that the tourism agency said supports pursuing additional promotional funding.
Doug Price, president and CEO of VisitCOS, said VisitCOS updated its 10-year destination master plan to focus on three "imperatives": secure additional promotional funding, grow off‑peak overnight visitation (November–March) and increase length of stay. Amy Long, Chief Development Officer, said VisitCOS identified eight areas where it will lead (funding strategy, winter and off-peak growth, stewardship, packaging, visitor center work, centers of excellence, coordinated planning and CTO collaboration).
Resident survey and focus groups: VisitCOS commissioned Signal Research to survey 400 likely voters in 2024 and then ran four focus groups. Results included: 60% of respondents agreed the positive impacts of tourism outweigh negatives; 78% said tourism enhances economic opportunity; 65% supported visitors paying a tourism tax to cover infrastructure and outdoor recreation impacts. In focus groups, after framing LART comparisons and explaining that the current 2% lodging tax is low nationally, roughly three-quarters of participants said they were likely to vote yes on an increase. Doug Price said the message that "tourism drives Colorado Springs forward" resonated strongly in testing.
Economic context: VisitCOS cited the Longwoods 2024 study reporting approximately 25.5 million visitors and $3.1 billion in visitor spending across the region in 2024, and an increase in average length of stay from 2.2 to 2.7 nights year-over-year.
Planned initiatives and next steps: VisitCOS said the Hosmer Visitor Center is tentatively scheduled to open in 2026 and that the agency will launch a first winter leisure campaign and a Pikes Peak Neighborhoods promotional project funded in part by a CTO grant. VisitCOS said it will work with the city's Lark Committee, mayor’s office and tourism-sector partners on shared strategy and timing for any ballot measure; several council members asked for closer coordination and for VisitCOS to report back with competitive comparisons and return-on-investment modeling.
Council reaction: Council members generally supported the tourism strategy as a revenue-growth path and urged the city and VisitCOS to align on timing and messaging before any ballot initiative; Councilman Lin Weber urged expedited voter outreach, while others cautioned the city may not yet be ready and asked for deeper collaboration across city departments.
Ending: VisitCOS said it will continue coordination with the city and partners and deliver follow-up materials on competitive positioning and projected revenue impacts before any ballot decision.