The Grand County Tourism Board on Monday outlined a proposed 2026 budget that uses reserves to fill a roughly 3% revenue decline and shifts more spending toward off‑season marketing and outreach.

The board’s presenters said they want to keep a one‑year reserve ‘just for emergencies’ while drawing on funds in the coming five years to pay for an expanded marketing push, new website features and international outreach. Gaylene Orr, Cheryl Espizio, Jennifer Brown and Rebecca Pierson represented the board in the presentation.

“We are continuing to use our reserves,” a tourism board presenter said, adding the board hopes a new AI‑powered itinerary builder on its rebuilt website will help visitors plan longer stays and improve off‑season visitation. The board also told commissioners it plans to increase email marketing and research spending to target international travelers and weekday or shoulder‑season visitors, which the board said tend to stay longer and spend more.

Commissioners and the tourism board discussed how lodging‑tax revenue will be allocated going forward. Under current practice, lodging tax is split into three streams: roughly 50% for traditional tourism marketing, 30% for community priorities or visitor‑experience investments (including childcare, housing and transportation), and 20% that the Board of County Commissioners may direct annually. The tourism board said it will continue to rely on some lodging‑tax reserves while partnering with the Colorado Tourism Office for targeted campaigns.

The board also described plans to reduce grant spending from pandemic‑era levels and return to a pre‑COVID distribution pattern, shifting some grant funds into marketing aimed at lengthening seasons rather than only supporting events. Commissioners asked how chambers of commerce in different districts would be affected; tourism board members said districts would prioritize applications differently and that grant requests this year had been diverse.

Commissioner Ed Regner, participating remotely, and other commissioners said they expected to finalize budget allocations during the county’s upcoming preliminary budget approval. Commission discussion included whether to maintain tourism board earmarks and how to coordinate tourism grants with the new Community Priorities Fund administered under lodging tax changes.

The tourism board representatives said they will return with any grant awards and press releases for commissioners to review and that final budget adjustments could still be made before the county’s preliminary and final budget deadlines.

The board’s presentation leaves open how much of the tourism board’s own reserves will be used in 2026; commissioners said they would consider the request as part of the countywide budget package.