The state is taking a unique approach to marketing, and it's costing a hefty sum.

SURVEY Do you think using tax dollars to produce a TV reality show featuring Colorado would help boost tourism and the economy? Yes, it couldn't hurt. No. I think it's a waste of money. Results  |  Disclaimer

Colorado's tourism office is spending $9 million for a marketing campaign that includes filming a reality television show titled "Courage Colorado."

The show features a North Carolina family of more than a dozen people -- including 10 children, a cousin and a nanny -- as they travel across the state for two weeks experiencing Colorado's attractions.

The Walt Disney Co. is producing the show for the Colorado Springs-based PRACO Company, which designed the marketing campaign. It began filming this weekend on a Steamboat Springs dude ranch. Instead of sex, scandal and sickening stunts, as is the traditional fare on most reality TV programs, this show will highlight's Colorado's charms and as a place of family values.

"It will allow us to leverage our money and run the show on a network," Stefanie Dalgar of the Colorado Tourism Office, told the Colorado Springs Gazette. "It is an innovative program; it definitely is different."

PRACO is negotiating with two cable networks to air the one-hour TV show sometime in prime time in March 2004. The public relations firm is also looking at commercial airlines to use it as in-flight entertainment on planes coming into Colorado.

The state, in an effort to boost the economy, infused the Colorado Tourism office with $9 million earlier this year. Tourism, according to initial indicators, appears to be on an upswing. The state sent out 37,496 vacation guides in June, up roughly 9,000 over the previous year.