The Governor’s Award for Outstanding Community Tourism Initiative acknowledges an activity, event, or project undertaken by a community or region to promote tourism in Colorado.
Winner will be announced at the 2021 Colorado Governor’s Tourism Conference November 3–5, 2021, at the Pueblo Convention Center
Statement of Eligibility: The Governor’s Awards for Outstanding Colorado Tourism Efforts are open to all individuals, private businesses and non-profit organizations offering a tourism product or service in Colorado. All entries must promote tourism to or within Colorado.
• Well received by market constituents
• Utilizes coalitions and/or partnerships
• Demonstrates creativity and innovation
• Contributes to tourism and economy in community/region/state
• Showcases the work your organization undertook in 2020 to serve as the go-to resource for COVID-19 restrictions, health and safety best practices, etc. for residents and visitors alike.
• Entries should focus on how small and local businesses were supported through 2020 in their communities, as well as any other programming created.
The Chaffee County Visitors Bureau, Salida Chamber Of Commerce, Salida Business Alliance, and Buena Vista Chamber Of Commerce partnered to create an online auction and storefront for businesses in Chaffee County to sell gift cards, products and services amidst the challenges of COVID-19. The online auction went live just 3 days after conception, ran for 10 days and generated $116,514.88. 100% of all sales went directly back to each business. From start to finish, money was in the hands of the businesses within 15 days. https://www.colorfulcolorado.com/auction
When all the businesses were forced to shut down due to Covid-19 we wanted to get something going as fast as we could to help. Remembering that the Colorado Governor’s
Tourism Office had an online auction each year to raise money for their scholarship foundation we went to work using the 32auctions.com platform.
The Chaffee County Visitors Bureau paid to host the auction, cover all advertising costs and pay all processing fees. It was of the utmost importance that 100% of all sales went directly back to each business. We set up an intake form on colorfulcolorado.com/auction for the businesses to provide their item information on the auction site. Businesses could list up to 3 live individual items without any limit on quantities (e.g. 1 product, 1 service, $50 gift card (10 available). We then manually added the items to the auction and worked furiously to stock the auction and continue to add items as they sold out through the duration of the auction. This required an approval from the business via phone or email, or a new form submission by the business owner for another product. Within 3 days the auction was live and it ran for 10 days from March 26th at 8:00am until 6:00pm on April 4, 2020. 100% of the proceeds were given back to the individual businesses that participated. It was fun to watch the total increase by the minute and it was a huge success. $116,514.88 is a lot of money but nothing compared to what revenue is generated on any given day in this beautiful valley. For some business owners though, the revenue they generated by the auction floated them until they could reopen their doors at the end of May. This single idea helped carry our businesses through a scary and uncertain time and we’re proud have the reach we do to be able to step in and help drive dollars their way. Speaking of reach, we had buyers in-state and from across the county and even one from Germany.
The Buena Vista Chamber Of Commerce and the Salida Chamber Of Commerce helped spread the word in the community. Angel Rowell, President of the Salida Business Alliance, was instrumental leading the communication and accounting for the businesses and the purchasers. This took countless hours. There were 871 different items in the auction from gift cards to art and even furniture. In total, there were 2,017 items sold in the auction.
Many other communities in Colorado, and across the United States, reached out and asked for more information about how they could replicate the auction in their own communities. We offered them both the good things and things that we’d change if we did it over again. We also wanted them to be able to support their communities just as we had.
This initiative will be presented at the Colorado Governors Tourism Office Leadership Journey as a class project for Scott Peterson.
Please provide examples of how the community/region has shown creativity and innovation in its initiative. *
Tourism is the most crucial industry in our area. On average, visitors to Chafee County spend $350,000 per day. At the beginning of the pandemic, our county closed all lodging except for essential travel and there were many restrictions placed on businesses, as were well aware. We learned quickly that selling gift cards was the fastest way that we could get money in the hands of our businesses. After the success of this event we built an online store to sell gift cards year round. Again, no cost to them. The Visitors Bureau covers fees, purchases the gift cards on behalf of the buyer and mails them out. The only thing the business owner needs to do is ring up a gift card. If restrictions were to come back and shut down our community again, we already have a proactive plan in place.
Please provide examples of how the community/regional initiative contributed to the local/regional/state economy. *
The Now This IS LOVE Auction raised $116,514.88
Our online shop has sold $85,955 in gift cards since its inception.
Please showcase the work your organization undertook in 2020 to serve as the go-to resource for COVID-19 restrictions, health and safety best practices, etc. for residents and visitors alike. Entries should focus on how small and local businesses were supported through 2020 in their communities, as well as any other programming created. *
Chaffee County created a Leadership Round Table that met virtually every Monday and Thursday throughout the pandemic. The Chaffee County Visitors Bureau (CCVB) participated in this round table. This group hired a PR firm to help develop messages around COVID-19. These messages were built into an online toolbox and shared with the many stakeholders for countywide distribution. Window clings, yard signs, posters were developed and distributed throughout the community.
The Chaffee County Visitors Bureau covered the welcome signs with new signage that asked visitors to “Please Mask Up”. The Chaffee County Visitors Bureau also created 12 videos that asked people to mask up and stay home. Once some restrictions were lifted, the CCVB produced a video series interviewing businesses and outfitters asking what they are doing different with COVID-19. The goal was to inform visitors of what to expect while also making them aware of the additional precautions our tourism-driven community is taking to keep them safe. These videos were promoted on social media and on the CCVB website to encourage visitors to come play in our beautiful valley but also please care for our community by respecting the regulations in place for our county.
The CCVB purchased 60,000 bandanas to encourage masking up. One side featured the Salida, Colorado logo and the other featured the Buena Vista, Colorado logo. These were distributed to businesses and visitors while wearing inflatable T-rex costumes. The CCVB challenged the community with a matching fundraiser to purchase bandanas and the community raised over $12,000 to support this campaign.
The Buena Vista Chamber Of Commerce, Salida Chamber Of Commerce and the Chaffee County Visitors Bureau were all frontline resources for COVID-19 information. Messaging through our individual websites, email lists and social media channels, we were able to quickly inform both locals and visitors of COVD-19 related information.
