The Tourism Council of Carbondale was approved to participate in the Colorado Tourism Office’s Restart Destinations Program in July 2021. The Tourism Council of Carbondale applied on behalf of the Roaring Fork Valley core team, now formalized as the Roaring Fork Destination Alliance (RFVDA). The Roaring Fork Valley core team includes representatives from the Tourism Council of Carbondale, Basalt Chamber of Commerce, Visit Glenwood Springs, Aspen Chamber Resort Association, and Snowmass Tourism. Program objectives included:
- convene the RFVDA core team to explore the formation of a collaborative tourism network
- identify solutions for valleywide tourism industry barriers and opportunities
- establish a unified voice for the RFVDA tourism industry
Located in the Rockies Playground, the Roaring Fork Valley stretches 40 miles from Aspen to Glenwood Springs alongside the Roaring Fork River and historic Rio Grande railway line. The valley represents a diverse set of tourism communities and visitor attractions, from the world-renowned ski mountains of Aspen and Snowmass Village, to Colorado’s first-ever historic resort town of Glenwood Springs, to the more rural destinations of Basalt and Carbondale.
RFVDA core team was paired with Hilary Lewkowitz, a CRAFT Workshop Facilitator with experience in tourism development, stakeholder engagement, sustainable tourism and destination marketing, to develop a recovery assessment and facilitate a community visioning and action planning workshop.
RFVDA core team convened two times before the workshop to identify priority barriers and opportunities for advancing tourism, discuss the formation of a collaborative tourism network, and guide workshop design.
Recovery Assessment and Workshop Results
RFVDA core team supported the development of a recovery assessment consisting of background research, insights from residents and tourism stakeholders, and input from the group.
RFVDA core team convened on November 9, 2021 for a visioning and action planning workshop. The core team reviewed the recovery assessment and discussed the future of tourism in the valley before aligning on priority actions for driving near-term recovery and long-term resilience. Additionally, the core team discussed how they can successfully work together to achieve collaborative goals.
RFVDA core team participated in a group exercise to identify example outcomes from group collaboration in the short-term (1 year), medium-term (5 years), and long-term (10 years). Highlights from the discussion were:
- short-term success: increase local awareness of the value of tourism, distribute cohesive responsible visitation messaging, and create a crisis communications playbook
- medium-term success: develop low-impact and inclusive travel experiences, establish metrics to evaluate tourism impacts, and create a RFV group unified voice
- long-term success: develop a RFV destination management plan, achieve a measurable decrease in visitor impacts, and implement tools to advance tourism workforce through the valley
RFVDA core team also identified how they can successfully work together to achieve their intended outcomes. An initial list of community agreements to foster successful collaboration include:
- achieve group consensus before finalizing short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals and actions
- be adaptable to a changing collaboration structure based on project goals and objectives
- foster a solution-oriented dialogue that allows for each destination’s voice to be heard
- work together to onboard new members from partner organizations when staff transition
- identify partnerships outside of the group to expand capacity and expertise when necessary to achieve goals
RFVDA core team participated in a group exercise to identify example outcomes from group collaboration in the short-term (1 year), medium-term (5 years), and long-term (10 years). Highlights from the discussion were:
- short-term success: increase local awareness of the value of tourism, distribute cohesive responsible visitation messaging, and create a crisis communications playbook
- medium-term success: develop low-impact and inclusive travel experiences, establish metrics to evaluate tourism impacts, and create a RFV group unified voice
- long-term success: develop a RFV destination management plan, achieve a measurable decrease in visitor impacts, and implement tools to advance tourism workforce through the valley
RFVDA core team also identified how they can successfully work together to achieve their intended outcomes. An initial list of community agreements to foster successful collaboration include:
- achieve group consensus before finalizing short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals and actions
- be adaptable to a changing collaboration structure based on project goals and objectives
- foster a solution-oriented dialogue that allows for each destination’s voice to be heard
- work together to onboard new members from partner organizations when staff transition
- identify partnerships outside of the group to expand capacity and expertise when necessary to achieve goals
CRAFT Mentor Project Results
Following the workshop, RFVDA was paired with Bobby Chappell, a CRAFT Mentor from the Tourism Consulting Collaborative with experience in destination stewardship planning, visitor use management, and sustainability standards, to deliver 75 hours of free consulting to conduct the activities listed below.
The purpose of this Restart Destinations Mentor project was to implement valleywide strategies to encourage responsible and respectful use, champion the value of tourism, and advance crisis communication planning. Additional activities assisted the RFVDA to establish processes and procedures for convening productive meetings and implementing shared action items.
Project objectives included:
- review resident and stakeholder survey results to identify themes and talking points that communicate the purpose and value proposition of RFVDA
- develop a RFVDA Care For Colorado social media campaign
- develop agendas and activities for RFVDA meetings that focus on ways to encourage responsible and respectful use and champion the value of tourism
- compile a list of community agreements to foster productive and collaborative RFVDA discussions
- support implementation of priority actions that emerge from RFVDA meetings
RFVDA achieved the following results through the Restart Destinations Mentor project:
- series of RFVDA meetings that include the support of planning, agenda development, aggregation of action items, and group communications
- series of talking points that distill common themes from the resident sentiment and tourism stakeholder surveys, support the press release to announce the establishment of RFVDA, and champion the value of tourism
- Care For Colorado social media campaign toolkit and editorial calendar
"By participating in Restart Destinations, our community has been impacted in a positive way- we have a stronger relationship with our valley DMO partners, and collectively, we are advancing our destination stewardship initiatives." - Andrea Stewart, Executive Director, Tourism Council of Carbondale
About Restart Destinations Program
The Restart Destinations Program supports Colorado tourism destinations to drive faster recovery as they emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. Awarded destinations receive a recovery assessment, a full-day recovery workshop, 75 hours of customized technical assistance, 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.