Destination Stewardship Strategic Planning for the state of Colorado and its eight travel regions
- Client: Colorado Tourism Office, a division of the Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT)
- Partners:
- Project Duration: May 1, 2023 - June 30, 2024
Project Overview
Through a year-long participatory planning effort, Solimar will support the CTO to develop a new state-wide Destination Stewardship Strategic Plan in collaboration and cooperation with regional industry thought leaders, so that private and public partnerships can be fostered, and existing work across multiple agencies can be built upon. The output of this planning effort will be a statewide destination stewardship strategic plan and eight regional destination stewardship plans created in cooperation with regional thought leaders, industry stakeholders, and residents.
The planning process is designed to be participatory with a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, to give all residents in the state of Colorado a chance to be heard, share their voice, and help shape destination stewardship for the play they live, work, and play, as part of the investigation and listening that will shape ideas for destination stewardship planning. Additionally, industry partners including state government agencies will also participate in a series of input processes.
Major Activities
The strategic planning process takes a five-phase approach with the following timeline:
PHASE 1: Stakeholder Outreach and Engagement (May – July 2023)
- Project launch
- Stakeholder and partner engagement, and convening of Regional Stewardship Action Teams
- Development of stakeholder surveys
- Draft Destination Stewardship Glossary of Terms
PHASE 2: Investigation & Listening (May-September 2023)
- Research and analysis of state tourism and stewardship data, global industry trends, and best practices
- One-on-one interviews with stakeholders
- Distribution of stakeholder surveys including the resident Happiness Index Survey
- Regional destination stewardship strategic planning workshops
- Situation Analysis Report presented
PHASE 3: Colorado Stewardship Planning & Consultations (September 2023—January 2024)
- Feedback on the outline and strategic planning framework, along with a glossary of terms
- Regional destination stewardship strategic planning workshops
- Draft the statewide destination stewardship strategic plan
PHASE 4: Regional Stewardship Planning (January—May 2024)
- Facilitate industry partners and public comment opportunities on the statewide destination stewardship strategic plan
- Regional strategy validation workshops
- Draft regional destination stewardship strategic plan for each travel region
- Facilitate feedback on regional destination stewardship strategic plans
- Delivery of the final versions of the statewide destination stewardship strategic plan
PHASE 5: Implementation Planning (May – June 2024)
- Introduction of the final statewide strategic plan and glossary of terms to partners and the public
- Facilitate Commitments to Implementation
- Create a process to track the progress that includes KPIs identified in the plans
- Deliver final communication materials
- Creation and delivery of a final report
Anticipated Results
- Final statewide Destination Stewardship Strategic Plan and eight regional plans
