Overview
Visit Greeley was approved to participate in the Reimagine Destinations Program by the Colorado Tourism Office in July 2022. Program objectives included:
- Convene local tourism stakeholders to align on the future of tourism
- Identify strategies that build local understanding of the value of tourism
- Advance activities that develop and enhance visitor experience in Greeley
- Advance activities that increase awareness of Greeley tourism opportunities
The City of Greeley is located in the travel region of Denver and the Cities of the Rockies, designated by the Colorado Tourism Office. Greeley, the Weld County seat, is a high plains community that offers panoramic views of the Rocky Mountains. Known for its blend of hospitality and agricultural roots, Greeley has an emerging creative arts scene that is powered by the University of Northern Colorado and a thriving downtown. Greeley is a regional hub of activity in Colorado’s Front Range, positioned north of Denver, east of Boulder, and south of Fort Collins.
Visit Greeley is the destination marketing and management organization for Greeley. The organization is a department housed within the Greeley Area Chamber of Commerce. It is primarily funded by the City of Greeley through a 3% lodging tax collected by the City of Greeley.
Visit Greeley was paired with Dave Santucci, Principal Consultant for Mission2Market, a destination consultancy with 20 years of experience in destination management and marketing, to develop a destination assessment, facilitate a full-day community visioning and action planning workshop, and provide 100 hours of consulting to Visit Greeley.
Visit Greeley also convened a core team of local tourism stakeholders to provide input throughout the design and delivery of the program. Visit Greeley hosted three core team meetings to identify priority barriers and opportunities for advancing tourism, discuss the findings from the destination assessment, and guide workshop design.
Destination Assessment and Workshop Results
Destination Assessment and Workshop Results
Visit Greeley supported the development of a destination assessment consisting of background research, a visitor profile study, a resident sentiment survey, a tourism stakeholder survey, and input from the core team. The findings from the assessment were compiled into a report that informed the design of the full-day workshop.
Visit Greeley convened 47 attendees on December 15, 2022 for a community visioning and action planning workshop to review the destination assessment and align on priority actions for fostering long-term industry resilience. Workshop participants represented a wide range of tourism stakeholders, including Visit Greeley, City of Greeley, economic development partners, state agency representatives, and private business managers and owners.
Workshop participants engaged in a small group activity to align on the future changes they would like to see implemented that benefit the tourism industry in Greeley. Overlapping themes from these discussions included enhanced marketing for brand awareness, target audiences and marketing tactics, group sales and tourism, development of visitor experiences, and championing the value of tourism.
As a result of the workshop discussions, participants aligned on key priorities and action items to inform the development of an action plan. Key priorities include:
- Advance group tourism opportunities
- Promote local businesses and experiences
- Develop and enhance visitor experience
CRAFT Mentor Results
Following the workshop, 100 hours of consulting were provided to conduct the activities listed below. The purpose of this year’s CRAFT Mentor project was to promote local businesses and experiences, advance group tourism opportunities, and develop and enhance visitor experience.
Project objectives included:
- Develop a group sales plan and job description to increase tourism opportunities
- Review and recommend partner digital optimization program vendor
- Develop a seasonal content marketing campaign with target audiences based on datafy audiences and stakeholder objectives
Visit Greeley achieved the following results through the Reimagine Destinations Mentor project:
- Strategies and resources to increase meetings, convention, and sports visitation opportunities
- Content marketing campaign that includes an implementation plan, budget, future campaign recommendations, and draft content
- Meeting and vendor evaluation for Visit Greeley to provide value to partners in enhancing their digital presence