Visit Colorado Springs, the marketing organization meant to increase tourism to the city and region, is getting a new boss.

The group announced Wednesday it is hiring Sean Dixon as president and CEO. He will succeed Doug Price, who is retiring before the end of the year, The Gazette reported in March. Dixon served as the president of Visit Topeka since 2020 and led the efforts to strengthen the capital of Kansas’ visitor economy, a news release from Visit COS said.

Dixon will step into his new role in late October, working alongside Price before his official retirement in November, the news release said.

“Sean has been a tremendous leader for Visit Topeka and an outstanding advocate for our community,” Molly Howey, CEO of the Greater Topeka Partnership, said in the release. “Over the past six years, he has helped strengthen Topeka’s tourism industry, elevate our destination’s profile and build a strong foundation for future growth.”

The Greater Topeka Partnership is an economic development organization that works to attract talent and businesses to the city.

Since 2020, revenue collected from Topeka’s Transient Guest Tax (TGT), a tax imposed on hotel and motel room rentals, grew. In 2020, Dixon’s first year at Visit Topeka, the city collected almost $1.8 million from the tax. It increased in 2021 ($2.5 million), 2022 ($2.8 million) and 2023 ($3.3 million) before lagging behind in 2024 ($3.1 million) and 2025 ($2.9 million), the latest annual data available from Topeka.

Colorado Springs’ lodger’s tax, a similar levy to Topeka’s TGT and used as a benchmark of tourism spending, has also seen ebbs and flows. Since 2021, it has increased year over year, finishing 2025 with a total of $9.2 million in revenues — roughly three times the collections reported by Topeka.

Price has served as the president and CEO of Visit COS for 16 years. Over that time, the organization has cultivated a culture that encourages people to stay and help sell the “special place that we live in,” he told The Gazette in March. Dixon said in the release that he wants to build on Price’s legacy alongside the team at Visit COS.

“I’m thrilled to join Visit Colorado Springs and for my family to become part of this community,” he said in the release. “Throughout this process, I’ve been inspired by the pride people take in Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak region and by their enthusiasm for what’s ahead. … I look forward to getting to know the people who make this region special and working together to create opportunities through tourism.”