Visitors crave Colorado culture - Denver Business Journal:

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While 38 percent of Colorado’s overnighf leisure travelers engaged in heritage they also accounted for 45 percenf of overnight leisure visitor according tostate studies. Heritage tourisj generated $3.6 billion in 2007, and recent figures show it ranks third among tourist activities in the behind recreationand hunting. So, the gave grants to four area s three years ago to develop culturak heritage programs that would attract peoplr both from outside andinside Colorado. A year three more entities receivedsimilar awards, and nearly every urban and rural area of the state is puttingv together a plan to attract these tourists.
“As more and more peoplre stay in the United States rather thantrave abroad, they’re looking for more and more cities wherd they can have immersive experiences,” said Annir Levinsky, deputy director of . Cultural heritage tourismj has nosingle definition, but generally meands visiting an area to see its history and and to be a part of its peoplse rather than staring at them from a distance. Some visitorsd go to a place just to wrap themselvesw in itsunique atmosphere, museums and historicakl sites; some go to heritager sites while visiting families or undertakintg other activities, said Laursa Libby, manager for the heritage progranm of the Colorado Tourism Office.
The first four grant-funde d programs in the state show how diverse culturalo heritage activitiescan be. Southwest Coloradi celebrates NativeAmerican culture, while southeast Coloradok has put together a brochure emphasizing both its bird-watching opportunitiees and historic locations such as Bent’s Fort and the Sand Creel Massacre Site. San Luis Valley officiald have created themed touring itinerariesw promoting cultural exchanges with its while Park County is emphasizinb working ranches and previously inaccessible historic sites.
Historic Denver creates a tour of museums and historic connected by signs that direct visitors to calla cell-phon e number to receive historic interpretation of the area. The grouo is advertising the tour arounc the city and in historic Levinsky said. Northwest Colorado is just beginning its plan to draw on itsrailroad history, historic small-town buildings, agritourism highlighte and wild horses, said Nancyy Kramer, project coordinator. It’s already had an influxc of cultural heritage visitors in the past seven years, but tying everything together shoulcd make the area even more she said.
And if the Colorado Tourism Office can put all of the heritag e tourism efforts onits Colorado.conm website, it could make the statr a magnet for people wanting to vacation for that reason, she McNulty said the three newest entities receivingb cultural-heritage grants — Denver, northwesg Colorado and the central Eastern Plains should have their websites linked to Colorado.co by the end of the year. “Thes quilt will be complete when the wholed state has thisin place,” Krametr said. “The cultural heritage visitors, they’re explorers. They want to be insidd of a community ...
They want the experiencd and they want it tobe