Northern Colorado's meeting and hospitality organizations are ratcheting up their marketing campaigns to counteract the effects of the High Park and Woodland Heights fires on tourism hotspots.

The Estes Park Convention and Visitor's Bureau has approved an additional $75,000 to spend on a series of advertisements in varying media to bring Coloradans and out-of-state residents alike to Estes and to Rocky Mountain National Park.

Estes Park had already budgeted to spend $400,000 on marketing this summer, according to Suzy Blackhurst, communications manager at the Estes CVB. The additional funds were taken out of a reserve fund.

The Fort Collins CVB will also be spending more than anticipated in its effort to bring tourists to town, increasing its marketing spending from $40,000 to $100,000, according to Jim Clark, executive director of the Fort Collins CVB.

Both fires broke out in June, during what should have been a period of high tourism traffic, but evacuations, closed roads and thick smoke all worked to deter visitors from coming to either destination.

National media coverage spread the news that the fires had broken out, and soon reservations were being canceled and CVBs were fielding