Our History, Mission & Goals

HISTORY

Tour Colorado (formerly the Colorado Group Tour Association) is an organization originating from the Colorado Tourism Board (CTB) in 1988.  Members from across the state met on a monthly basis to sponsor familiarization (FAM) tours and work on sponsorship at the National Tour Association (NTA) business exchange and conference. From this beginning, Tour Colorado has grown into a vibrant organization promoting the packaged travel industry to tour operators and group travel leaders.

Tour Colorado is the only statewide organization marketing directly to professional tour operators and group travel leaders domestically to increase the packaged travel market to Colorado. Since 1992, Tour Colorado has continued to meet with 100+ statewide members. All members are involved in promoting tourism and travel throughout the state of Colorado. The membership represents visitor and convention bureaus, chambers of commerce and resort organizations, lodging accommodations, tour operators and receptives, transportation, attractions, restaurants, and guide services.

VISION

The mission of Tour Colorado is to promote group tours and packaged travel within and throughout the State of Colorado by being the primary liaison between the suppliers of tour products, and professional tour operators looking to purchase these products.

GOALS

• Serve as a “Point of Contact” for the professional tour operators and members statewide.
• Conduct site inspections to promote the entire state.
• Attend annual marketplaces for the National Tour Association (NTA), the Student & Youth Travel Association (SYTA),  the American Bus Association (ABA), and the Travel Alliance Partnership (TAP) to promote the State of Colorado to professional tour operators.
• Enhance and maintain www.tourcolorado.com. The website promotes members statewide and provides information to tour operators,group leaders, and those seeking information on the packaged travel market.
• Serve as an educational forum for new members to learn about the group tour industry.
• Provide an avenue for statewide networking and marketing.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT TOURISM

• American and Canadian travelers spent about $186 billion for overnight travel to destinations worldwide.
• Over half ($105 billion) was spent on trips to destinations within the U.S.
• The expenditures made by packaged travelers for trips in the U.S. directly supported more than 1 million jobs (both full & part-time) in the travel industry with total earnings (wages, benefits and proprietor income) of over $22 billion.
• Residents of the U.S. and Canada took 144 million packaged overnight trips to domestic and international destinations.
• U.S. motorcoaches carry more than 774 million passengers annually. About 200 million more than the airlines, and more than double commuter rail. Motorcoaches serve six times more U.S. destinations than the airlines and seven times more than passenger rail.
• Touring, casinos, cruises, beaches and theme parks were the largest and/or the most developed trip types for packaged travel.
• Group packaged trips were longer than independent packaged trips (6.8 nights versus 5.9). Trip lengths varied substantially from 4.1 nights to 8.9 nights on touring trips.
• For U.S. travelers, the average package cost was $2,710 for an independent and $2,838 for a group package trip.
• The estimated economic impact in a community for one day based on a motorcoach of 30 passengers is approximately $3,500-$5,000 (includes lodging, meals, attractions and shopping).

Research conducted by Dean Runyan Associates and Longwoods International * Study supported by NTA, Canadian Tourism Commission, ABA, Travel South USA, Group Tour Magazine, Group Travel Leader and Student Youth Travel Association