CRAFT Case Study: Lake County Tourism Panel, Lake County

Lake County Tourism Panel (LCTP) was awarded a Colorado Rural Academy for Tourism (CRAFT) Recovery Mentor program by the Colorado Tourism Office in fall 2020. The objective of this CRAFT Mentor program was to engage with Lake County tourism stakeholders to identify priority visitor impacts that can be mitigated through strategic messaging and create a plan to collaboratively distribute visitor behavior messages to reduce those impacts from future visitors. 

Located in the Rockies Playground travel region, The LCTP is a dedicated group of volunteers committed to promoting tourism in Lake County, Colorado. The LCTP is funded by Lake County lodging taxes and markets the county through print and digital advertising, public relations and its annual Visitor’s Guide.

CRAFT Recovery Mentor Program Results

The LCTP was paired with Hilary Lewkowitz, a CRAFT Mentor with experience in rural tourism development, stakeholder engagement, sustainable tourism and destination marketing, to achieve the following outcomes:

  • Development, distribution, and analysis of an online survey for Lake County businesses, organizations and attractions to inform priority visitor impacts from the 2020 tourism season. 
  • Facilitation of a focus group for Lake County land managers, conservation organizations and tourism-related businesses to discuss priority visitor impacts from the 2020 tourism season. 
  • Facilitation of a follow-up focus group meeting for Lake County land managers, conservation organizations and tourism-related businesses to discuss collaborative messaging strategies and visitor communications resource mapping.
  • Delivery of a Lake County Visitor Impacts Focus Group and Online Survey Summary Report. 
  • Delivery of Lake County visitor communications resource map that identifies each stakeholder’s capabilities to distribute responsible recreation messaging.
  • Delivery of a Responsible Recreation Messaging Framework and Inventory. 

“Convening outdoor recreation stakeholders for the first time, and surveying our tourism businesses, was invaluable. It gave us a full picture of impacts that we can use to make informed decisions on messaging and other initiatives." - Donna Childress, Lead Contractor, Lake County Tourism Panel
 

CRAFT

About CRAFT Recovery Mentor

The Colorado Tourism Office developed the Colorado Rural Academy For Tourism (CRAFT) to support communities across the state integrate tourism into their economic development strategies and develop new visitor experiences aimed at attracting increased traveler spending.  

The CRAFT Recovery Mentor program provides up to 50 hours of mentoring for Colorado tourism partners to advance one or more tourism strategies that bolsters their response to a recent crisis or natural disaster.

Contact

Lake County
(888) 532-3845