During peak summer months, visitors to Montezuma County rebounded in 2013 after experiencing declines in recent years.
This past June and July, the Cortez Welcome Center recorded approximately 6,500 visitors each month. During the same time span in 2010, the numbers were closer to 8,000 visitors. Those numbers dropped to the their lowest levels last year when about 5,500 stopped in at the center in June and July, respectively.
To help boost tourism and restore visitation to previous levels, new Mesa Verde Country Tourism Director Heather Hughes is hopeful to establish additional collaborative efforts. She specifically wants to offer a quality experience for visitors by promoting the area’s archaeological sites, agricultural landscape and overall quality of life.
“We want to bring in all of the stakeholders, and look at the tourism industry as a whole,” she said. “We want to know how ranchers, retailers, lodgers and attractions can work together to attract tourists.”
The decline in local tourism has also impacted the local economy. After peaking in 2008 at $237.4 million, annual gross sales for Montezuma County steadily fell to just more than $200 million in 2011. While gross sales rebounded to near 2008 levels last year, projections for 2013 are expected to decline once again.
Hughes said the federal government shutdown has impacted the area’s top tourist draw, Mesa Verde National Park. Now entering its second week, the shutdown will hurt, Hughes said, citing many older tourists from across the world visit the local area in October. Mesa Verde National Park welcomes some 500,000 tourists annually.
“This is our peak season for group and retirees to visit Mesa Verde,” she said.
Despite the shutdown, the tourism arm of Mesa Verde Country plans to take a digital approach to help restore tourism numbers. Tapped as the new director in May, Hughes envisions a revamped website, engaging electronic newsletters and strategic social media communications from the tourism agency.
“We have to look at the big picture,” Hughes said. “As consumers spend more and more of their leisure time online, it’s only natural to recognize the potential for meaningful brand interactions in the digital space.”
One of the hurdles is creating a consistent brand across traditional and digital platforms.
“Creating an online brand isn’t just about the design, overall look and feel, pretty logo and stunning images,” she said. “It’s also very much connected to and enhanced by an overall positive user experience and an intuitive navigation scheme.”
One direction is to simplify how tourists can compare fares and rates for lodging, for example, and implementing a new easy-to-use booking feature on the Mesa Verde Country website. The current online tool, developed in 2008, is in desperate need of a redesign, she said.
“It currently takes a minimum of six clicks for the visitor to get to the lodging portion of our website,” she said.
The Mesa Verde Country website recorded nearly 62,000 visits in 2012. Hughes hopes the new website will attract some 100,000 unique visitors in 2014.
Tourism and city leaders want to continue attracting international tourists, but officials understand that luring American visitors is also essential. Cortez Marketing Director Amy Fair said more effort is needed to showcase various tourism opportunities across the region.
One proposal is targeting distinct demographics, including hunters and outdoor enthusiasts. Fair said millennials, for example, could be directed toward mountain-biking activities, and baby boomers could be targeted for the annual birding festival. Birders, she said, spend more per capita than hunters.
“We have to tap into individual desires,” Fair added.
tbaker@cortezjournal.com