Travel to Colorado and Denver increased 4 percent in 2007, and travel spending jumped 10 percent from the previous year to $9.8 billion.
According to data released Tuesday, 2007 marked the fourth consecutive year the state’s tourism industry saw an increase in domestic visitors and dollars spent. Colorado ranked 17th in overall market share and continued to rank first in share of overnight ski trips.
The 2007 travel study, conducted by Longwoods International, was released Tuesday by the Colorado Tourism Office and the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Overall overnight trips totaled 28 million, and the state’s national travel market share rose from 2.35 percent in 2006 to 2.5 percent last year.
“For a state to gain in market share is a significant achievement,” said Michael Erdman, who conducted the study. “All in all, it’s good news across the board.”
The majority of trips to Colorado, 84 percent, were leisure trips, which include marketable leisure and trips to visit family and friends.
The most significant growth occurred in marketable leisure trips, which are not tied to business, family or friends, said Kim McNulty, executive director of the Colorado Tourism Office.
Marketable leisure trips were up 8 percent over 2006, marking the biggest hike in these types of trips since 1992, when funding for tourism marketing was slashed by the state.
That year, marketable leisure trips topped out at 12.5 million before dropping to an all-time low of 9.6 million in 2000, the year the state began funding tourism advertising again.
Last year, the study found, there were 13.5 million marketable leisure trips to Colorado.
“This is exciting for Colorado, and it validates the way we market the state,” McNulty said. “We are gaining momentum and regaining market share.”
Day trips in Colorado, a new portion of the study added this year, totaled 21.5 million and accounted for $1.3 billion in spending.
Erdman said that even with its successes, there are still a few challenges for the state, including the perception that Colorado is not affordable and the decreasing average trip length among travelers. Nationally, the average trip length dipped to 3.7 nights in 2007 from 4.4 nights in 2000.
However, Denver is seeing a reversal of that trend, with the average trip 3.5 days last year, compared with 2.5 days in 2000.
Denver had 12.2 million overnight travelers in 2007, up 4 percent from 2006. Travel spending in the city rose to a record $2.9 billion in 2007.
“It’s great news — especially with all the economic downturns — to have gains in ’07 over the great gains we saw in ’06,” said Richard Scharf, president and chief executive of the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Elizabeth Aguilera: 303-954-1372 or eaguilera@denverpost.com
