Tourism to Colorado reached its highest level ever last year with 26.9 million overnight visitors, a 4 percent increase from 2005.
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.
Gov. Bill Ritter in a written statement called tourism “vital to Colorado’s economy.”
“Ensuring the industry’s continued growth remains one of my top priorities,” he said in the statement.
The Colorado Tourism Office had a $19 million budget for the 2007 fiscal year ending June 30, 2007. The budget increased from about $5 million the previous fiscal year. According to the state, more than two-thirds of the marketing dollars were spent after the year 2006 and “should impact 2007.”
The release of state tourism data by the Colorado Tourism office comes after last week’s report that tourist visits to Denver specifically grew 13 percent from 2005 to 11.7 million visitors last year, according to the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau. Both studies were conducted by Longwoods International.
The state’s ski industry had 10 percent more volume, with Colorado’s market share increasing to 23.1 percent from 18.5 percent.
Colorado’s share of marketable travel in the nation grew to 2.35 percent in 2006, from 2.1 percent the previous year. That’s the highest level since 1999. Marketable travel involves tourists who are not visiting friends or relatives. More people took outdoor trips and city trips, and Colorado now ranks 9th in the country for outdoor trips.
Marketable leisure trips grew 7 percent, business travel grew 4 percent and visits to friends and relatives grew 2 percent.
The top states sending visitors to Colorado aside from Colorado itself were Texas, California, Arizona, Wyoming, Kansas and New Mexico.
Staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi can be reached at 303-954-1488 or at kyamanouchi@denverpost.com .
This article has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to a reporting error, the story misstated the increase in the state’s tourism budget.
