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'Visit Denver' Offers Fun Ways to Support Local Businesses

DENVER (CBS4) -- Coronavirus has caused our economy to take a huge hit. One of the industries heavily impacted by the pandemic is tourism. It is estimated one in three jobs lost are in the tourism industry. CBS4's Andrea Flores talked with Richard Scharf, the President & CEO of "Visit Denver" about the impact we are seeing here in Colorado.

"Whether it's restaurants, hotels, transportation, venues, all of those things have been dramatically impacted," says Scharf. "Right now we know that visitors outside the state, outside the country aren't interested in doing a lot of travel."

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According to its website, Visit Denver's mission is to "bring conventions and leisure visitors to Denver for the economic benefit of the City, the community and our partners." With coronavirus, that mission has shifted. Visit Denver is now focusing on providing ways to support local businesses. That includes "To Go Denver," a website that allows Denverites to find restaurants that are open to takeout and delivery.

"We have over 800 restaurants and hundreds of thousands of page views, so it's really working well and it's a great way to support the restaurant industry," says Scharf.

Another initiative from Visit Denver is "Virtually Denver." It lists all of the virtual activities museums are offering for families.

This week, the nonprofit also launched the "Love this City" campaign. Every weekday, Denverites can answer a trivia question for a chance to win a number of prizes, including a staycation at The Maven Hotel in LoDo.

RELATED: Take A Denver Trivia Challenge For A Chance To Win Prizes, Support Local Businesses 

"'Love this City' encourages locals to show their love for this city, as well as gives people a way to support our local businesses and attractions," says Scharf.

Scharf says his team hopes to start marketing the city again to travelers when it's safe to do so. But he says there is one thing Denver has that could help its tourism industry recover faster than other cities.

"We have a lot of great outdoors, and we're an outdoor city," says Scharf. "I think that's going to bode well at least in the short term."

Visit Denver: http://denver.org

To Go Denver: http://togodenver.com

Love This City campaign: https://www.denver.org/love-this-city/

Virtually Denver: https://www.denver.org/blog/post/denver-events-this-weekend/

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