The Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau and Qwest are teaming up in an effort to attract more minority conventioneers and tourists to town.
Qwest donated the money to produce three new brochures promoting multicultural tourism in Denver, including one aimed specifically at African-Americans and another at the Hispanic market.
“These groups represent a very quickly growing segment of the tourism industry,” said convention bureau vice president Jayne Buck. “This is the first time we’ve done customized brochures targeting these markets.”
From 1990 through today, Denver has hosted 139 minority meetings and conventions, bringing 143,995 attendees to town and producing an economic impact of $154 million, according to the bureau.
Six scheduled minority-group meetings are expected to draw 12,350 attendees with an economic impact of $12 million.
More than 400 people were in town through Thursday for the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice conference, held at the Adam’s Mark Hotel.
“Everyone was very impressed with Denver’s diversity of attractions,” said Elaine Neal, the group’s conference liaison.
The bureau printed 20,000 of each version of the brochure. They will be distributed to meeting planners through direct-mail campaigns and to leisure travelers at the bureau’s three information centers.
The brochures feature details on well- known local cultural events, from the Cinco de Mayo celebration to the Denver Black Arts Festival. Highlighted neighborhoods include Five Points, the Santa Fe Drive arts district and Lower Downtown.
The bureau declined to say how much money Qwest donated for the brochures.
“Denver is Qwest’s corporate home, and we wanted to do something that helped celebrate the multicultural aspects of this city, bring more visitors here and help the economy,” said Ric Padilla, Qwest’s vice president of corporate social responsibility.
Staff writer Julie Dunn can be reached at 303-820-1592 or jdunn@denverpost.com.
