Scuba instructors Tom Nichols (left) and Kim Canatsey (right) walk out of the water Saturday morning, Aug. 11 at the Aurora Reservoir. The Greenwood Village-based dive company Underwater Phantaseas leads scuba expeditions at the Aurora Reservoir during the summer, trips that include training courses for beginning level students as well as search and rescue classes. The scuba area at the reservoir features a sunken Cessna plane about 130 feet from the shore. The depth of the area reaches about 40 or 50 feet. The reservoir offers a host of opportunities for area tourists.(Marla R. Keown/Aurora Sentinel)

AURORA | City officials hope to lure more tourist dollars to Aurora in the future by priming the marketing pump created to bring visitors to the city.

Council members July 22 informally approved a deal that will increase Visit Aurora’s budget without raising taxes on Aurora residents.

Currently, Visit Aurora receives about 10 percent of all lodger’s tax revenues in the city, which amounts to about $450,000. Starting next year the organization will get 12.5 percent of the lodger’s tax, which is paid by people who stay in Aurora hotels.

That will increase Visit Aurora’s total budget from about $550,000 annually to $800,000 in 2016 and $1 million in 2020, budget officials said. The city’s lodger’s tax equals to about $12 on a $150 hotel room.

Visit Aurora will use the extra money to attract more tourists, events and business conferences to Aurora.

Gary Wheat, president of Visit Aurora, said the group has had success since it launched in 2011. For example, Aurora was the host of the 2012 International Powerlifting Federation’s World Master Bench Press Championships, and will be the 2014 host of the IPF World Men’s and Women’s Powerlifting Championships. The two championships will bring in more than $3 million to the city, according to Visit Aurora. Wheat said the group has also been successful at marketing Aurora’s abundant ethnic food restaurants. A free guide to all of Aurora’s restaurants was compiled by Visit Aurora and is flying off the shelves at Denver International Airport, Wheat said.

“These are restaurants that don’t have marketing budgets, so we’re able to help them going forward,” he said.

Wheat said Aurora’s tourism budget is less than tourism budgets for Denver, Durango and Steamboat. The extra cash from lodger’s tax will help market the city further.

“We’re asking for a little bit of investment to further help grow our city,” he told council members at their July 22 meeting.

Council members were in unanimous support of the budget increase. Councilman Bob Broom said the more hotel room nights Visit Aurora can sell to tourists, the better off the city will be financially.

“When these room nights go up, people are spending money at other restaurants and other retail establishments,” he said.

Reach reporter Sara Castellanos at 720-449-9036 or sara@aurorasentinel.com.