The World Trade Center Denver team and city officials supporting the project say it is the right time to promote the city internationally. They cite average year-over-year employment growth of 3.5 percent in the metro area from 2013 to 2015, and growth of more than 3 percent through October this year.

Denver’s diversified economy relies less on the boom-and-bust industries of energy and real estate than it did a few decades ago, they contend, and to a large degree, they credit the city’s airport. When it opened in 1995, officials did not anticipate the high number of visitors, business travelers included, who would make Denver a destination rather than a stopover, said Tom Clark, chief executive of Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.

Since then, the city has worked to increase nonstop flights to international destinations, he said. Today those include Munich, Tokyo and London, and the airport is pursuing flights into Dubai, Paris, Beijing and other markets.

“I’ve lived through oil and gas ups and downs and the dot-com bust, but in none of those times did we have such a diverse economy,” Mr. Clark said. “The transformative nature of the airport has turned us into a much different economic region.”

Just how different can be seen in RiNo, where private investors and the city are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build it up and create a new gateway into Denver. Start-ups, and technology and creative companies have been migrating to the district for about the last five years, attracted to the area’s cachet, as well as new buildings and converted warehouses that are now offices, food halls, brewpubs and entertainment venues.