The Rural Tourism Professional Development Scholarship provides up to $500 to help rural tourism professionals learn and improve their skills. Professional development opportunities include, but are not limited to:
- marketing courses
- digital or social media conferences
- business development workshops
- technical skills training
Due to COVID-19, we postponed applications from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021. Check back for updates or sign up for Colorado Tourism Office email updates.
Overview
Type: Scholarship
For: Rural tourism professionals
Amount: Up to $500 per application
Application period: Winter and summer
OEDIT division: Colorado Tourism Office
To apply for this scholarship, you need to:
- be a resident of Colorado
- be involved in the tourism industry
- not have received a professional development scholarship from the Colorado Tourism Office with 12 months before the application deadline
- identify a professional development opportunity that takes places before the application deadline
Eligible expenses include:
- full or partial registration to attend a tourism-related conference, course, or training (not including the Colorado Governor’s Tourism Conference)
- lodging and mileage
Applications are not currently being accepted. Please sign up for the Colorado Tourism Office email updates to stay informed on this program.
The application period opens twice a year in summer and winter.
Apply online through the OEDIT application portal. Log in or create a new account. New users are manually added to the portal for security reasons, so it may take several days to activate your account.
Application Questions
The questions below are only a reference and do not include all of the information you need to include in the application. For each narrative question response, there is a limit of 2,500 characters including spaces and punctuation.
- Describe the professional opportunity you wish to pursue.
- Why are you passionate about the tourism industry in rural Colorado?
- How would this professional development opportunity support your tourism-related career goals?
- How do you hope to use this knowledge to help tourism in your region?
- Provide a statement of financial need.
Supporting Documents
You will need to provide:
- a resume
- one to three letters of support from an associated tourism-related organization/business or an industry colleague
This is a competitive award program, and not all applicants receive the scholarship. A panel of industry partners and Colorado Tourism Office staff reviews applications and recommends awards based on application scores and available funds. The panel reviews applications on these criteria:
Merit (50%)
You will need to show:
- qualifications, background, and experience of the applicant
- overall strength of the application request with clear logic and adequate details of past work and needs
- letters of support
Impact (40%)
You will need to show measurable benefits for the individual and rural Colorado tourism industry.
Financial Need (10%)
You will need to demonstrate a high degree of financial need.
The Colorado Tourism Office will reimburse your for the scholarship amount after you:
- successfully complete the conference, course, or training
- submit expense receipts
- submit a final report that the Colorado Tourism Office reviews and accepts
Within 30 days of completing the professional development opportunity, you need to submit:
- readable invoices, proof of payment, and itemized expense receipts that show the date of the expense
- a final report to describe what you accomplished with the scholarship
Program Manager
