Colorado’s Summer Ad Campaign Influences 2.1M Visitors with $2.6B in Economic Impact

DENVER  (December 9, 2015) – The Colorado Tourism Office (CTO) today announced a 64 percent increase in the number of trips influenced by the award-winning ‘Come To Life’ marketing campaign that ran from April to August 2015, generating $2.6billion additional dollars in traveler spending.

 

Strategic Marketing & Research Insights (SMARI) found that CTO’s decision to move campaign resources from spot markets to national outlets generated nearly 2.1 million additional trips by travelers who experienced the campaign, compared with 1.3 million influenced trips in 2014. SMARI also reported that every dollar spent on paid media during the spring/summer campaign generated $490 in traveler spending, a 42 percent increase over the previous year. 

 

“These results are powerful evidence that Colorado truly is one of the nation’s dream destinations, with the ability to pull travelers from across the country,” said Cathy Ritter, who took over as director of the Colorado Tourism Office this month. “I am excited to find ways of building upon the momentum of the ‘Come to Life’ campaign and creating even more success for our tourism partners.”

 

SMARI, a national research firm contracted to analyze the financial impact of travel in Colorado, found the campaign generated a 44 percent increase in spending among influenced travelers, inspiring $2.6 billion additional spending, compared with $1.3 billion in spring/summer of 2014. The campaign's success is attributable to a variety of factors, including the move to a national adverting campaign focused on cable and satellite interactive TV, a highly targetable medium and strong creative executions.

 

"The Colorado Tourism Office has one of the most effective state marketing campaigns in the country,” said Executive Vice President of Strategic Marketing & Research Insights, Denise Miller. “By continually revising targeting strategies, Colorado has been able to market in a way that is proven to increase visitor volume with an outstanding ROI.”

 

According to those surveyed, the Colorado travel opportunities that both inspired the largest number of visits and were listed as the top reasons for travel included scenic drives, state and national parks, historic sites, hiking and backpacking. The percentage of visitors who stated they visited a marijuana dispensary during their trip was unchanged from last year at 8 percent, with 6.8 percent indicating the availability of marijuana was a primary trip motivator. 

 

The spring/summer 2015 SMARI results are an indicator that Colorado is on track for another record-setting year of visitor volume, visitor expenditures and tax volume.  In 2014 Colorado set all-time records welcoming 71.3 million visitors to the state who spent $18.6 billion and generated $1.1 billion in tax revenue. The CTO will announce its full research findings for the 2015 travel year in June 2016.