There have been more hotel stays in Colorado since lawmakers began increasing the state Tourism Office’s budget a few years ago, but it’s hard to tell how much the additional money has helped, according to an audit released Tuesday.
The audit found that while tourism officials pointed to an increase in the number of overnight trips to Colorado from 26.9 million in 2006 to 28.2 million in 2007, the state’s overall market share of tourists stayed relatively flat from 2002 to 2007, when Colorado began pumping millions more into tourism marketing efforts.
The tourism office’s total expenditures were $13.1 million in 2004 but had increased to $23.3 million by 2008.
Tourism officials noted that overnight spending by tourists increased from $8.9 billion in 2006 to $9.5 billion in 2007.
Information compiled by state auditors showed that the state’s market share of tourism — or Colorado’s share of all overnight trips in the U.S. — was 2.2 percent in 2002 and 2.5 percent in 2007. Meanwhile, the state’s market rank, or how it compares in market share with the other 49 states, fluctuated from 23rd in the nation to 17th over the same period.
“Measuring marketing effectiveness is not an exact science because people visit Colorado for a variety of personal and business reasons,” auditors noted.
“In any of these cases it is difficult to determine whether the incentive to visit Colorado was prompted by the Tourism Office’s marketing efforts, such as an advertisement in a magazine, or by other factors.”
The audit noted the agency did not have sufficient documentation for $3.68 million in marketing and advertising spending. The expenditures ranged from $120,000 to $1.9 million.
Tourism officials said they would improve future documentation.
Tim Hoover: 303-954-1626 or thoover@denverpost.com
