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County and partners to tighten tourism strategy, focus on "city-neighbor" visitors and joint board meeting
Summary
At a March 4 work session, county tourism staff and commissioners discussed new analysis showing an increase in day-trip visitors from Denver metro; commissioners asked for a joint meeting with municipal tourism boards and asked staff to pursue targeted outreach and digital strategies to capture more local visitors' spending.
Clear Creek County commissioners on March 4 discussed early findings from a county tourism analysis and directed staff to pursue tighter coordination with municipal partners to better capture spending by "city-neighbor" visitors (residents of Metro Denver who visit the mountains for day trips).
Colton Roloff, county economic development/tourism staff, summarized recent analysis showing a shift in visitor composition since the COVID era: whereas historically about 70% of annual visitors came from more than 250 miles away, the county27s most recent datasets show roughly 60% of visitors now come from the Denver metro area. Roloff said those short-distance visitors behave differently — they are less likely to stay overnight and, on average, spend less in-county than out-of-area tourists. The county27s tourism team is preparing targeted marketing and business-development strategies to increase the share of local visitors who spend money in county businesses (restaurants, retail, services) rather than driving through or returning home in the same day.
Commissioners discussed three broad strategic approaches: (1) work with municipal business owners and economic-development partners to educate local businesses on offerings that appeal to short-distance visitors; (2) use modern, targeted digital marketing (for example geofencing or mobile push notifications at trailheads) to reach these visitors where they make decisions; and (3) develop coordinated events and experiences (music and other outdoor events) that create reasons for day visitors to linger and spend in-county. Commissioners asked tourism staff to coordinate a joint meeting with municipal tourism/commerce boards and to present more detailed micro-segmentation data at the next meeting.
Outcome: County staff will convene a joint meeting with municipal tourism boards and return with more detailed audience segmentation and digital-marketing proposals. Commissioners signaled support for strategies that focus on increasing in-county spending by short-distance visitors while continuing to serve overnight/tourist markets.
