From the upcoming reopening of Hanging Lake to an inbound luxury train, there is a lot on the horizon for Glenwood Springs’ tourism industry. One of the biggest highlights for the upcoming tourism season in Glenwood Springs is bound for glory — that is the Rocky Mountaineer.

The Rocky Mountaineer, a luxury train that runs from Denver to Moab, begins the 2021 schedule Aug. 15 and runs through Nov. 19, according to Lisa Langer, Director of Tourism Promotion and Visit Glenwood.

“We’re looking forward to a really strong year. The Rocky Mountaineer is going to be one of the highlights for 2021. We’re getting lots and lots of great publicity. This has really launched us into another tier of travel,” Langer said.

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“It’s going to be a nice thing for Glenwood Springs. People will come here; they won’t have a lot of time in town, but they’ll get a taste of Glenwood Springs and hopefully come back.”

Riders will travel from Denver to Moab, with an overnight in Glenwood Springs.

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In April the city will be highlighted by Frontier Airlines for relying on renewable energy.

Langer said the airline wants to give a way to a trip to a town that is green.

“So the Colorado tourism office contacted me and said would you be interested in this promotion. It’s not going to be a cost to us,” Langer said.

The city’s Glenwood Gold campaign was also hugely successful, Langer said.

Langer said the campaign was launched before the Grizzly Creek Fire but was then relaunched after the fire, noting that a major media outlet coined the campaign as a city “making a literal comeback” from both COVID and the major wildlife.

“It went viral on FOX News network,” Langer added, noting that the FOX article reached international clients.

That helped the city realize a positive cash increase in their accommodations tax,” Langer said. “Without that campaign we wouldn’t have made it. The rest of our tax receipts are down.”

Langer excitedly reported to the city council Thursday that Glenwood Springs is the only municipality with its own Giphy account. To check out the city’s original Gifs, go to Glenwood Springs’ Official Giphy account at https://giphy.com/visitglenwood/.

The city also successfully wrapped up the Motherload Giveaway, which awarded 12 people with $1,000 gift certificates.

“We did this so we could see when the winner spent the Glenwood Gold. If they haven’t used it within the year, we can follow up with a reminder email,” Langer said in an email.

One winner is from California and has family in Denver, while another lives in Florida and has a daughter who works in Glenwood Springs.

Langer said the winners from Texas and New Mexico have been here before and intend to visit this year. Another winner was from Pennsylvania and has never been to Glenwood Springs, but said his family is very excited about the opportunity.

“The others were from Colorado, so I think those are more probable for use in the short run,” Langer said.

Last but certainly not least, Hanging Lake is scheduled to reopen May 1, with permits going on sale online on April 1 at https://visitglenwood.com/hanginglake/.

Langer said she did several interviews when it was known that Hanging Lake was left untouched by the Grizzle Creek Fire.

“It was a miracle that was happy news during a very unhappy year for the visiting public. The miracle was covered heavily by front range outlets, magazines, Colorado Tourism Office, regional newspapers and even several media outlets overseas picked it up,” Langer said.

smarvel@postindependent.com