NEWS RELEASE
VISIT LONGMONT
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Visit Longmont, the destination marketing and management nonprofit for Longmont and the surrounding areas, launched “LoCo In Motion,” a campaign aimed at highlighting the benefits of tourism for the Longmont community. Featuring educational and promotional materials, as well as messages from local businesses and city leaders, the campaign – with its slogan “Tourism Makes Longmont Run” – is intended to showcase the ways in which tourism propels Longmont’s economy and lifestyle.
According to research done in partnership with the Colorado Tourism Office, visitors spend more than $200M annually in Longmont. This spending directly supports local businesses, restaurants and events; and economic activity from visitors helps maintain roads and trails and keeps community services running. Longmont’s tourism-related businesses also support one in every 13 jobs.
“We believe our best ambassadors are local residents – the people who choose and love to live here,” said Sarah Leonard, executive director of Visit Longmont. “We want to ensure they know the positive impact their efforts as business owners, guides, and advocates for the community have on the quality of life here in Longmont.”
As stakeholders in the community, tourism leaders at Visit Longmont are invested in creating sustainable tourism growth while managing visitor demand in an effort to strike a balance that benefits both residents and visitors. By marketing and branding Longmont as a desirable destination for leisure travel, meetings, and sporting events, the organization brings in $500 for every $1 spent on marketing efforts, creating economic opportunities for tourism-related businesses.
“Tourism and visitor spending creates a domino effect for businesses, as travelers stay in hotels, eat at local restaurants, shop at gift stores and more,” said Leonard.
Tamar Hendricks, owner of Crackpots, a paint your pottery studio, has been a business owner in Longmont for more than twenty years. “The additional people and activities make it possible for Crackpots and other businesses to thrive,” she explained. “Tourism doesn’t just affect one business, it affects them all.”
Kelly Dressman is the Brand Manager for Dry Land Distillers in downtown Longmont. “Our business wouldn’t be what it is without visitors,” she said.
To promote awareness of the benefits of tourism, the “LoCo in Motion: Tourism Makes Longmont Run” campaign will feature a number of elements in and around the community, including print and digital advertising, a social media campaign, and posters and stickers for local businesses to display and share. Later this fall, Visit Longmont will also host a mascot contest, inviting residents to engage in the campaign by suggesting and voting for a mascot that best represents what Longmont means to them.
For more information on the “LoCo In Motion” campaign and the benefits of tourism in Longmont, please go to www.visitlongmont.org/inmotion/
About Visit Longmont
The mission of Visit Longmont is to support, market, develop, and enhance historical, cultural, business, meeting, and recreational activities that increase visitation to the community of Longmont and surrounding areas to establish and develop Longmont as a desirable destination for visitors and enrich the economic well-being of the community.
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