Denver drew a record number of tourists last year, buoyed by a new convention center hotel and an extra $4 million spent on marketing.
Tourist visits to Denver grew 13 percent from 2005, the highest growth rate in the city’s history, according to data released Wednesday. The previous record was 7 percent growth in 2001.
About 11.7 million overnight visitors came to Denver last year, up from 10.4 million in 2005, according to a Longwoods International study commissioned by the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau.
“We knew Denver was going to have a big year last year in tourism, but we had no idea how big a year,” said Mayor John Hickenlooper.
“People are staying longer and spending more money,” visitors bureau president Richard Scharf said. “These are people who make their money somewhere else and spend it in our economy. It creates jobs, lowers taxes and is good for our economy.”
Visitor spending hit a record $2.76 billion in 2006, up 13 percent from the $2.43 billion spent the previous year.
Officials credited tourism growth to the 1,100-room Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center, which had its first full year in 2006; the infusion of $4 million in marketing budget, provided by a 1-percentage-point increase in the lodgers’ tax approved by voters in November 2005; and the opening of the Denver Art Museum’s new wing.
A healthy economy also has helped return business travel to pre-9/11 levels, Scharf said.
Denver’s growth in leisure trips was much stronger than national trends, which have been just keeping pace with population growth, according to the Longwoods study.
Tourists of all types grew in number, with those visiting friends and family up 17 percent to 5.5 million, business travelers up 7 percent and “marketable” visitors – those leisure travelers who are not visiting friends or family and chose to visit Denver – increased a record 12 percent to 3.6 million.
The last group is considered more valuable than those visiting friends and family because they stay in hotels and spend an average $93 a day, according to the tourism bureau. People visiting friends and family spend $43 a day.
Dennis and Kris Cada of Cleveland toured downtown this week while visiting their daughter Nicole Bianco in Broomfield but enjoyed a trip to Estes Park most of all, they said. They stayed in a log cabin, went hiking and soaked in “the natural beauty of the park,” Dennis Cada said.
Business travelers like Min Chol Son spend an average of $96 per day when they’re in Denver. A director in sales and promotion for Prudential in Seoul, South Korea, Son was in town this week for the annual meeting of the Million Dollar Round Table, an association of finance professionals.
“The city is very calm and very clean,” Son said, and the convention center is “magnificent, a perfect place for an international convention.”
One in three business travelers combined business with pleasure in 2006, adding two extra nights to their trips. Antonio Gaerlan, who came from the Philippines for the Million Dollar Round Table, brought his family along.
The family added trips to Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods in the Colorado Springs area, “which was so beautiful,” he said.
Special marketing efforts were mounted last year in Phoenix, Albuquerque and Omaha. Phoenix rose from seventh in 2005 to third last year on the list of metropolitan areas sending visitors to Denver, according to the bureau.
“Marketable” tourists not visiting friends or family are considered the group directly influenced by the bureau’s marketing. Growth in other categories has been driven by more airline flights, lower fares, more hotels and other factors, said Angela Berardino, a spokeswoman for the bureau.
Next year’s Democratic National Convention is raising Denver’s profile nationally, and favorable exchange rates are driving international travel, said Kelly Kucera, advertising and promotions manager at the Adam’s Mark Hotel.
The 16th Street Mall maintained its position in 2006 as the most popular shopping area for visitors, while the most popular attraction was Lower Downtown.
“I think MTV helped us there,” Scharf said, referring to “The Real World,” filmed in Denver last year.
Denver is not perceived as being as exciting, affordable, family friendly or worry-free as the nation’s average destination, according to Longwoods. Other concerns include a drop in skiers stopping in Denver and the perception Denver is not strong in water sports.
“In the summer months, I think really driving the people who are interested in outdoor activities … might help increase the traffic here,” Kucera said.
Staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi can be reached at kyamanouchi@denverpost.com or 303-954-1488.
