Gold Belt Tour Scenic & Historic Byway (Gold Belt Tour SHB) was approved to participate in the Restart Industry Associations Program by the Colorado Tourism Office (CTO) in September 2021.
The purpose of Gold Belt Tour SHB is to conserve cultural heritage and history along a series of rural highways from Florissant to Florence in southern Colorado. Gold Belt Tour SHB is dedicated to preserving the rural lifestyle, natural environment, and rich historic heritage along the byway through cooperative collaboration of individuals, businesses, government, and nonprofit organizations.
Gold Belt Tour SHB was paired with Derek Schimmel, a CRAFT Mentor with experience in tourism marketing, storytelling, and community branding to deliver 75 hours of free consulting to conduct the activities listed below.
The purpose of this project was to advance fundraising tactics for Gold Belt Tour SHB by creating an editorial calendar, developing a photo competition, inventorying existing byway signage, and increasing staff capacity.
Project objectives included:
- marketing and promotion of the Gold Belt Tour SHB including:
- develop and implement a step-by-step guide for the production of a photo competition that incorporates outreach from all businesses and residents along the byway; and develop an editorial calendar with monthly themes and topics to be featured on goldbeltbyway.com
- inventory existing byway signage and deliver two 45-minute virtual frontline training sessions for tourism workforce to learn about tactics to promote responsible visitation and the history of the byway
- develop an executive director job description
Gold Belt Tour SHB achieved the following results with its Restart Industry Associations Mentor:
- production of a photo competition and marketing materials to promote the competition
- editorial calendar to guide content on goldbeltbyway.com, developed in conjunction with a one-hour stakeholder meeting that identified themes and priorities
- two one-hour committee meetings and one 45-minute virtual frontline training sessions for tourism workforce to learn about tactics to encourage responsible visitation, the history of the byway, and promote the photo competition
- signage inventory form designed with Colorado Department of Transportation
- executive director job description for organizational sustainability
About Restart Industry Associations Program
The Restart Industry Associations Program supports Colorado tourism industry associations to drive faster recovery as they emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. Awarded industry associations receive 75 hours of free consulting and $10,000 in direct marketing support from the Colorado Tourism Office. This program was made possible by a CARES Act Recovery Assistance grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration.