Eligible applicants include Colorado DMOs and Colorado regional and statewide tourism industry associations.

The Colorado Tourism Office defines a DMO as a not-for-profit organization or governmental unit that typically is the recipient of jurisdictional lodging tax revenue and serves as the lead for year-round tourism promotion and development efforts in a destination.

Example DMOs may include:

• Destination marketing organizations (e.g. Convention & Visitors Bureau)  
• Lodging tax boards, committees, or panels
• Chambers of commerce or chamber resort associations
• Government entities in Colorado (federally recognized tribes and local governments) 

Eligible industry associations include:

• Regional tourism industry association is a registered nonprofit trade organization that represents one or more tourism-related business sectors and represents a collection of tourism businesses within those sectors. Associations must represent a market-ready product or experience, and be regional in approach.
• Statewide tourism industry association as a registered nonprofit trade organization that represents a collection of tourism businesses statewide within a tourism-related business sector. Associations must represent a market-ready product or experience, and be statewide (where it exists) in approach.

Other considerations:

• Only one application can be submitted for an individual destination.
• Multiple organizations within a single destination should collaborate on a single program application.
• Participation in previous Colorado Tourism Office programming does not impact eligibility or competitiveness.
• Participants in previous Destination Development programs are encouraged to apply to advance the action plans that were created and/or update the existing action plan.
• Destinations that are currently participating this fiscal year in the Destination Blueprint Program are not eligible to apply. 

The following destinations and industry associations participated in the FY25 Destination Development Mentor Program. Below is a highlight of the work accomplished:

• Alamosa Convention and Visitors Bureau: Conducted a customized resident sentiment survey to better understand the communities perceptions of tourism and developed a plan to champion the value of tourism based on survey results.
• Colorado Association of Viticulture and Enology: Restructured CAVE’s current membership program to better serve its diverse members, including wineries, vineyards, grape growers, and allied trade partners, and to advance the support of Colorado’s wine industry.
• Chaffee County Visitors Bureau: Developed a three year music tourism strategic plan to promote the local music industry in Chaffee County during the off peak season.
• City of Fruita: Developed a customized Do Fruita Right campaign to inspire visitors and residents to responsibly and respectfully experience Fruita and the surrounding public lands.
• City of Ouray: Developed a structure for collaborating with outdoor recreation stakeholders to continue to assess priority impacts on public lands, update Do Ouray Right and determine how Visit Ouray can provide support on specific projects.
• Custer County Tourism Board: Developed a comprehensive marketing strategy to promote off-peak tourism opportunities during the winter season.
• Hinsdale County: Developed materials to support the outreach, marketing and promotion efforts of the Do Lake City Right campaign. 
• Lake County: Developed a comprehensive marketing strategy to advance off-peak tourism offerings during the winter season and executed a social media campaign with Ski-Cooper to increase winter tourism.
• Town of Hayden: Developed tools and resources for Hayden to begin marketing its recreation assets, local businesses, events, and experiences.
• Ute Mountain Ute Tribe: Created a comprehensive asset inventory that enhances economic opportunities while preserving and promoting the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe’s rich cultural heritage.
• Visit Fort Collins: Developed a three year strategic plan to advance off-peak music tourism opportunities while promoting inclusivity and community engagement in the planning process.

A panel of industry partners and Colorado Tourism Office staff reviews applications and recommends awards based on an understanding of priorities, capacity to participate, and demonstrated need. A representative from the Colorado Tourism Office will respond to your application within one month of the application deadline.

Please complete the letter of interest form to set up a call with Colorado Tourism Office staff member to discuss your project ideas. A letter of interest is not required, but is strongly recommended before submitting an application. 

Log in to the OEDIT online portal to submit your application. You are encouraged to review the FY26 Destination Development Mentor questions (PDF) and complete and save your responses in a separate document prior to applying through the portal. Be sure to pay attention to the character count for each response section. Additionally, we encourage you to submit your application a few days prior to the close date in case any issues arise with the submission process.

You will need to provide the following supporting documents:

• A Colorado Certificate of Good Standing is required for nonprofit entities and must be in PDF format. The required form is available on the Colorado Secretary of State's website. Government entities are exempt.
• Optional: A Letter of Support is encouraged from within your destination or industry sector, but this is not a requirement for the application. Combine support letters into on PDF.

For FY26, the Colorado Tourism Office will be selecting up to eight DMOs or industry associations.