DENVER, CO – February 25, 2014 – Denver’s second largest industry will honor some of its top leaders at the Denver & Colorado Tourism Industry Hall of Fame dinner and silent auction, March 20, 2014, at the Seawell Grand Ballroom at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

Six “Tourism Star” awards will be presented to organizations, attractions, and individuals that had a significant impact on Denver’s tourism industry during the preceding year. Winning Tourism Stars are a trio of Denver cultural attractions (the Denver Art Museum, Denver Center for Performing Arts/Denver Center Attractions/Denver Center Theatre Company and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science); Denver Mountain Parks; Chef Jennifer Jasinski; and the Solheim Cup.

“There are always a number of people and organizations that step up and make outstanding contributions to our industry, but 2013 was an exceptional year,” said Richard Scharf, president & CEO of VISIT DENVER.

The 15th Annual Tourism gala will also induct five people into the Denver & Colorado Tourism Hall of Fame: Epicurean Group CEO & Founder Larry DiPasquale, Denver March Powwow Executive Director Grace Gillette; Colorado Rockies Owner Dick Monfort; and Director of the Greenway Foundation, Jeff Shoemaker with a special posthumous award to his father, the Founder of the Greenway Foundation, Joe Shoemaker.

The Tourism Hall of Fame serves as the highest award for Denver’s travel industry – which registered its best year ever in 2012 with 13.6 million overnight visitors, generating more than $3.6 billion in spending. The industry supports 50,000 jobs in the metro area.

The gala is a fund-raising event for the VISIT DENVER Foundation, which has given out more than $545,000 in scholarships to 214 Colorado students pursuing higher education in the fields of tourism and hospitality.

For ticket information, please contact Lindsey Riddle at lriddle@visitdenver.com or (303) 571-9405.

Winning “Tourism Stars” in 2013 will be:

A Denver Trio of Cultural Attractions

Denver Art Museum
Denver Center for Performing Arts/Denver Center Attractions/Denver Center Theatre Company
Denver Museum of Nature & Science

Once again, Denver’s cultural attractions stepped forward with an amazing array of special events that helped drive overnight visitors to the city. In 2013, the Denver Art Museum presented Passport to Paris, an original exhibition that helped book hundreds of hotel packages.

The Denver Center Theatre Company staged the world premiere of Sense & Sensibility, which played for two months, while Denver Center Attractions presented an array of blockbuster Broadway shows in the Buell Theatre, including the return of the national tour of The Book of Mormon, making it one of the busiest theatres of its size in the nation.

The Denver Museum of Nature & Science created Mammoths & Mastodons and brought in the highly popularMythbusters: The Explosive Exhibition, while finishing its new space, the 126,000 square-foot Morgridge Family Exploration Center, in preparation for the opening of Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed in early 2014.

Solheim Cup

The 2013 Solheim Cup held at the Colorado Golf Club in Parker, Colorado, the week of August 13th through the 18th is a biennial team competition that showcases the world’s best female professional golfers in a match between the United States and Europe. Similar to the PGA’s Ryder Cup, it is a three-day match play event between teams of twelve players. Although the European Team was victorious with a recording-setting score of 18-10, the real “winner” was Colorado. The state was promoted across several media platforms and received the most television coverage in the event’s history, reaching 77 countries and more than 190 million households particularly in Denver’s top tourism markets in Europe. The event generated millions of dollars of publicity, and millions of direct spending by players, sponsors, fans and media.

For more information about The 15th Annual Denver & Colorado Tourism Hall of Fame, please visitTourismHallofFame.org.

Six Tourism Stars to be Honored at Denver & Colorado Tourism Hall of Fame Dinner

Related Articles