Visit Longmont and LEDP team up to celebrate National Travel & Tourism Week

“Travel is Essential” is the theme for this year’s week of celebration — May 19-25 —  for travel and tourism. This year Visit Longmont and Longmont Economic Development Partnership are teaming up to focus on the economic opportunities tourism can bring to Longmont. 

“National Travel and Tourism Week provides us with an opportunity to emphasize the travel industry’s significant role in contributing to economic development and promoting responsible stewardship of our community,” said Visit Longmont CEO Sarah Leonard.

Although it doesn’t always feel like it, Longmont supports a strong tourism industry. Nearly 600,000 visitors traveled to Longmont in 2023. Those visitors contributed $205 million in direct spending and supported over 3,000 jobs in the city. 

One of Longmont’s key industries is food and beverage. Visitors spend most of their dollars at local restaurants, breweries and on accommodations. Longmont also offers access to hiking trails and it is near Rocky Mountain National Park.

Tourism plays a broader role in the economic development of a city. It can often spark new business owners to move or build their businesses in the places they love to visit. It can also attract talent to an area that supports the businesses in the community.

Visit Longmont and LEDP formed a memorandum of understanding to enhance the economic opportunities for tourism business owners and investors and to build up awareness of the area as a culturally diverse destination that attracts businesses, investors and visitors, according to a news release from Visit Longmont. 

“We thought about how to recognize what has already been successful here and think about what are the opportunities to continue to grow that. The region and the state certainly have that focus. The Colorado Tourism Office works really closely with the state’s economic development partners to highlight (tourism). We are trying to model that on a local level,” said Erin Fosdick, executive director of LEDP.

Visit Longmont would like to grow Longmont’s tourism industry by attracting more business-related visitors and increasing tourism in the slower months — generally October through February, Leonard said. 

Visit Longmont is targeting its marketing campaign for the slower season where Longmont businesses are able to handle the increased business while also creating economic activity.

“Primarily, right now, what we are learning is that most of our out-of-community and out-of-state visitors are regional,” Leonard said. 

Visit Longmont is launching an educational series on tourism through it website and social media platforms. These pieces of information will explain how tourism benefits the community.

“We want to increase economic activity and economic benefit so that it benefits the community. I look at things like where in Longmont the community can handle or needs more visitation in support of local businesses or our tax base,” Leonard said.