07-25-24 Interview - Justin Bresler from Visit Denver

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Now I'm going to get to mynext guest. Justin Bresler, works with
Visit Denver, the organization responsible forbringing people to our great city, and
we're going to talk about that impactwith him right now. Hey, Justin,
how are you? I'm great?How are you? I am doing
just fantastic. You were with VisitDenver. Now we first met because of
your work with Colorado Veterans Project,which of course we could thank you for

(00:23):
that. But when you went towork for Visit Denver, had you worked
in the tourism industry before you wentto work for them. I know you're
the chief marketing officer, but wherewas Did you have any background in tourism?
And there's a reason I'm asking youthis. Oh yeah, as a
matter of fact, I did.I worked on the private side. We're
a nonprofit, but I worked onthe private side with an organization that did

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visitors, guys, and website fororganizations just like Visit Denver around the country
and it was a great proving groundbefore I got here. Well that's great,
that's fantastic because that gave you aframe of reference. And I want
to ask you just a basic question, how are we doing tourism wise in
Denver. You're doing very well intourism in Denver. We just released our

(01:04):
results from calendar to year twenty twentythree and saw some nice growth over our
previous record in twenty twenty two,up to about thirty seven point four million
visitors who came to Denver in twentytwenty three. And those visitors spent a
ton of money, more than tenbillion dollars in direct economic impact from those

(01:25):
visitors. And I think we're youknow, we brought them in in a
steady and responsible way throughout the year, and I think enhancing their residence quality
of life. Well, I wantto ask you specifically about what are the
main attractions? Do you guys havethe opportunity to ask tours like what are
they coming to see? Or doyou direct their spending to find out the
attractions that people are spending the mosttime at. Yeah, well, all

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of the above. And if youthink about Denver as a destination overall,
we're really a best of both world'slocation because obviously Denver has become as an
urban center, a real destination inits own right. And then of course
the appeal of Colorado for people comingfrom you know, coastal cities or even
internationally that's got to be there forthem, so they know they can get

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a lot of groundcovered when they cometo Colorado. And so yeah, you
know, we kind of know theindividual places that people spend a lot of
time at, but really overall,it's this it's this sort of best of
all world destination that we have here. You've got some really pretty staggering numbers.
Overnight visitors total twenty point five million. That was a three percent rise

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from twenty twenty two, generating eightpoint eight billion in spending. That's a
ten percent increase over the prior year. Have you guys been doing a full
court marketing press or is this wordof mouth? People just wanting to come
and see what Colorado has to offer. How are people finding out about us?
Oh, we are definitely marketing aggressivelyto these audiences. We like to
say that, you know, tourismdoesn't just happen. There's too many other

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great destinations across the country and aroundthe world that really buy for people's attentions,
and so we really need to leaninto this with aggressive advertising, social
media, public relations, and thenof course we have an amazing website for
them and visitors guys for when theydo, and yeah, there is great
word of mouth, and so oncesomeone does make the decision to visit here,

(03:15):
they become a great ambassador. Andso are our residents as well.
You know, they're the ones thatare telling their friends and family, you've
got to come visit here, andyou know, you know, I'd love
to host you in my basement,but it's a little small, so you
should stay at a hotel and itgets your gets your family here and you
don't have to actually host them.We love it. Where are people coming
from? Are they international visitors?Are they coming from within the United States?

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Yeah, well, the study thatwe just released, those are our
domestic visitors, and they are comingfrom a lot of markets that we advertise
in, including you know, LosAngeles. They're coming from regional cities like
Cheyenne and Port Collins, Chicago,Minneapolis, so really from all over the
country. But again, we dolike the fact that they are coming from

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our advertising markets in addition to someof our neighboring cities here in Colorado.
The international studies are different, butwe get a lot of people from Canada
and Mexico as well as UK,Germany, France and some other Western European
cities. And of course it helpsthat Denver International Airports keeps bringing new action
international flights here. And I know, you know, obviously we have some
obvious things that people come from.They come for Red Rocks, they come

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for various you know, arts stuff. But how much does sports play as
a as a role in tourism,because you know, when you go to
a Rockies game, especially like wejust had a series with the Red Sox,
I think there was more Red Soxfans they're the Rockies fans. So
what does sports impact our tourism numbers? How big is that? Well,
you know, I think especially forpeople coming from kind of the greater Rocky

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Mountain region, there just started asmany professional sports teams in the adjacent states,
and so I think the Rockies andthe Broncos and the Absanadagat they almost
become a de facto home team forif you're if you're sitting anywhere within five
hundred miles. But yeah, I'mlike, I love, I was driving
around downtown yesterday and I saw aton of Red Sox uniforms and I think,
just like I was saying, like, if your team is playing here

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in Colorado, and you think,you know, you're playing in Denver,
and you think that you can comeand see a game here in a great
downtown stadium and then you know,bounce up to the mountains for a couple
of days. I mean that soundslike a dream vacation to me. I've
been to a lot of baseball parksaround the country. It's I love baseball,
so I've been to a lot ofdifferent parks and stadiums, and coursefield
is what is the best experience youcan have, you know, other than

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where the you know, Padres usedto play. Yeah, I mean,
it's just it's a great experience.So, yeah, people do want to
come here and support their teams.I really appreciate the information. I mean
it's important for us to remember,even though sometimes it can be frustrating for
Native Colorado's who feel like Denver isbeing overrun, but this is such a
critical part of our economy. Anddo you know how much it makes how

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much it makes up of the overalleconomy in the Denver metro area. Well,
I know it's one of the largestindustries, probably a top five industry
for the Denver metro area. Andas a tax base. You know,
you've got to remember that the downtownhotels are paying huge amounts of property taxes.
And then of course, you knowthere was a billion dollars in spending
on food and beverage and that's generatingtaxes. And so the impact of the

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visitor is not just seen at thespend, but you know by the direct
spending, but also by the taxdollars they generate, which which which amounts
into the tens of millions of dollars. And you know, I think we've
we've surveyed our residents that we knowthey actually appreciate the impact of tourism.
They don't feel crowded out by visitorshere. And so you know, we
ask our residents just to make surebecause because there really are are are our

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main customers, and making sure thatwe're you know, enhancing their quality of
life as I said at the top, and and they see visitors and the
and the energies that they bring andthe spending that they bring as really enhancing
their quality of life. And soyou know, I think it's a win
win. Justin Wrestler, he's thechief marketing officer of Visit Denver. I
appreciate your time today. Man,thanks so much,