More tourists taking outdoor trips and visiting cities helped bring tourism in Colorado to a record 26.9 million overnight visitors last year, up 4 percent from 2005.
Outdoor and city trips were two key areas of growth, with Colorado ranking ninth in the country for outdoor trips.
The state maintained its position as a top destination for skiing. The ski industry had 10 percent more volume, with Colorado’s market share of all overnight ski trips nationally increasing to 23.1 percent from 18.5 percent.
The attraction of Denver plays a significant role in the growth of tourism to Colorado.
“We’re not a cow town. We do have 320 days of sunshine a year,” said Jenni Gaherty, director of sales and marketing at the JW Marriott Denver at Cherry Creek. “The word is getting out to meeting planners, to leisure travelers, to whole entirely new populations that want to come to Denver.”
Travel spending in the state hit a record $8.9 billion, up 8 percent from $8.2 billion in 2005. When adjusted for inflation, that exceeds the 1992 record, according to the state. Restaurants, attractions and recreation expenditures had double-digit increases.
The release of state tourism data by the Colorado Tourism Office comes after last week’s report that tourist visits to Denver grew 13 percent from 2005 to 11.7 million visitors last year. Both studies were conducted by Longwoods International.
“Marketable” leisure trips to Colorado grew 7 percent, business travel grew 4 percent, and visits to friends and relatives grew 2 percent.
Marketable travel involves tourists who are not visiting friends or relatives and are staying in overnight commercial accommodations.
One of Colorado’s key weaknesses for tourism is a belief that Colorado is expensive to get to and expensive for accommodations and dining, and that perception has only grown as transportation costs have risen, according to the report.
“Colorado tends to be a longer-haul destination, and so we just need to work on dispelling the myth that it’s expensive to come to Colorado,” said Kim McNulty, director of the Colorado Tourism Office.
The report also recommended that Colorado focus more on attracting touring vacationers who want to experience the state in more depth.
The Colorado Tourism Office had a $19 million budget for the 2007 fiscal year, which ends June 30, an increase of about $14 million for marketing and advertising. According to the state, more than two-thirds of the marketing dollars “should impact 2007.”
Staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi can be reached at 303-954-1488 or kyamanouchi@denverpost.com.
SKIING
1.78 MILLION “Marketable” visitors in 2006
1.61 MILLION “Marketable” visitors in 2005
CASINOS
620,000 “Marketable” visitors in 2006
710,000 “Marketable” visitors in 2005
OUTDOOR TRIPS
2.80 MILLION “Marketable” visitors in 2006
2.12 MILLION “Marketable” visitors in 2005
