SoCo businesses open for business

Spread the word, Southern Colorado businesses are open for business, post Waldo Canyon wildfire. There is a new push for you to tell your online community that Colorado Springs didn’t burn down and bring your tourist dollars here to spend. The sad reality is that hundreds of thousands of dollars has been lost because of the perception that businesses that rely on tourist dollars are still not open.

El Paso County Commissioner Sallie Clark is also The Holden House Bed and Breakfast owner. She tells me in the first week of the fire, “We had least five thousand dollars from folks who wanted returned money and now people who planned to be here in August and September are wanting their money back. They think Pikes Peak is still on fire.”

It’s about perception, even though reality indicates the Waldo Canyon fire is now 100 percent contained. Clark believes it now time for Southern Colorado’s online community to come together, “We were so wrapped up in the fire and people have been posting those pictures on Facebook. What I’m telling folks now is don’t do that, instead post positive pictures like Pikes Peak this morning, Garden of the Gods or the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo of someone feeding the animals.” Clark adds, “Try and make a good impact through the social media efforts. Send emails to your friends and family and relatives and let them know that the Pikes Peak region is literally open for business.”

Clark isn’t the only business owner slash politico to push this message. Brainstorming has been going at the Colorado Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau to make more strides to push this message locally and to a national audience.

Tourism is the lifeblood of Southern Colorado. 42 tourist dollars flow in every second in our community. The need to push this online message helps save jobs and pump up the cash registers for business owners who are in many cases, have seen a double digit drop in profits.

Go to the front page of krdo.com under links we mentioned to see a current list of attractions that are ready for you and your family to go to and check out a big welcome back push, post Waldo Canyon wildfire.