The Colorado Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau is laying the groundwork for creation of a regional tourism marketing district and a local attractions tax – moves designed to generate more money for tourism promotion.

Talk of a marketing district and attractions tax follows a consultant’s study released in March, which essentially said Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak region trails several areas when it comes to how much it spends touting tourism.

Doug Price, the bureau’s president and CEO, said the time is right for a marketing district – in which local governments and businesses band together to promote tourism. He laid out plans Thursday night during the CVB’s annual dinner and awards ceremony.

Tourism pumps $1.35 billion into the local economy annually and employs thousands of people, the CVB estimates. But a marketing district would build upon those successes and help boost several tourism initiatives taking shape in the Pikes Peak region, Price said.

New attractions, recreational projects, museums and other improvements totaling an estimated $741 million have been completed, launched or are planned in the area by private businesses, nonprofits and others, Price said. Among them: The Broadmoor hotel’s rustic retreats and makeover of its Broadmoor West guest rooms; the facelift of the Garden of the Gods Visitor & Nature Center; Manitou Incline upgrades; and the U.S. Olympic Museum.

“The reason that you set up a marketing district is so that the funds can be dedicated for tourism promotion and not be altered or redirected to any other project other than tourism promotion,” Price said.

Colorado permits the creation of tourism marketing districts, and five exist in Colorado, Price said. However, the CVB has met with nearly a dozen state legislators to discuss amending state law to allow attractions to be taxed within those districts, he said. The CVB also has also sought support from Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers and a handful of other local officials.

The CVB doesn’t have a legislative sponsor for its proposal to amend the law on marketing districts, Price said. The General Assembly convenes in January.

If the law is changed, the CVB would consider asking Springs-area governments to place a measure on the November 2016 ballot to seek voter approval of a marketing district likely covering Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs and Teller and Fremont counties, Price said.

At the same time, voters would be asked to add a tax – possibly 1 percent or 2 percent – to the cost of an attraction, he said.

Such a tax might add an estimated $300,000 to $600,000 per year to the CVB’s $3.4 million budget for tourism promotion; the tax’s actual revenue would depend on what’s defined as an attraction and how many would be covered by the tax, Price said.

Another major step for the CVB: Seeking an increase in the Lodger’s and Auto Rental Tax . That tax – 1 percent on auto rentals and 2 percent on nightly hotel stays – hasn’t been increased since it was created in 1980.

The combination of a LART increase and an attractions tax could boost the CVB’s budget to $8.2 million a year, Price said.

“It’s not about the dollar figure. We’re really not trying to back into a dollar figure at all,” Price said. “It’s about figuring out really what is the right level for tourism promotion for the Pikes Peak region and how do we get there.”

For now, the CVB has shelved talk of a LART increase while it focuses on the marketing district and attractions tax, Price said. If the CVB pursues a LART hike, it would need to do so by the summer in order to get something on next year’s ballot, he said.

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