Keeping Colorado colorful.

• Author: Rundles, Jeff
• Position: Rundles Wrap-up

OVER THE FOURTH OF JULY WEEKEND, MY FRIEND ED AND I PLAYED an early game of golf at Denver's old City Park course. Since we were just a pair and not a foursome, the greenskeepers paired us with two other men, two delightful gentlemen from Birmingham, Ala., who, I was surprised to learn, were here in Denver on vacation with their families for a week.

They were staying at the Brown Palace--if not Denver's finest hotel, at least its signature accommodation. From there, they made day trips to the many outlying attractions, like Colorado Springs, Boulder, Estes Park and "The Mountains" in general. They took in the local sights as well--a Rockies baseball game, the Denver Zoo, and not a few of the fine golf courses and restaurants.

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I didn't pry as to why they made this travel choice, but these were obviously men of means who could have gone anywhere for vacation. They chose Denver and Colorado and, so far as their trip had progressed, were not disappointed.

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I shouldn't have been surprised, in that I have known for years 'tis a pleasure to live in Colorado, as they say.

But I know through my work as a journalist for many years that it has been difficult to attract these so called "marketable" visitors; "marketable" visitors are defined by the travel industry as those who are not visiting friends or family and could therefore travel to any destination, but choose to come here. Our new friends asked so many questions that Ed and I felt like travel guides--and eager ones at that.

This is all good news for Denver and Colorado in that the tourism industry purports to be the second largest industry in the state (behind agriculture, by most measures) with $7.3 billion in 2004 tourism-related spending--and so important to every aspect of the economy: employment, small business creation, tax collections.

It hasn't come easy. From 1992 to this past year there was no permanent source of state funding for tourism promotion. Just last November, Denver voters approved Initiative 1A that raised the lodging tax to provide for tourism and convention marketing. And just this year the legislature passed HB 1201 that now provides $19 million per annum in tourism promotion marketing to the state tourism board, funds diverted from the state's collection of taxes on gambling. It wasn't that long ago that we approved the building of a new convention center and then, subsequently, the expansion of that center to keep up with...