STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — The phones were ringing early and often Wednesday at the Steamboat Springs Chamber Resort Association’s visitors center, with resort officials now predicting that tourism will swell dramatically to between 9,000 and 10,000 overnight visitors Friday as cycling fans scramble at the last minute to see the USA Pro Cycling Challenge finish Stage 4 in downtown Steamboat and start Stage 5 the next morning from the mountain area.
“We feel confident in that 8,000 to 10,000 number,” Chamber spokeswoman Michelle Krasilinec said. “All of the phone calls I’ve been fielding, people have been asking ‘How do I get there?’ and ‘What’s else is going on, on Saturday?'”
The Steamboat Springs lodging community donated hundreds of room nights to help secure the community’s bid to host a stage of the bike race, which is receiving international TV coverage. However, it wasn’t clear a week before the event if it would translate into a late-August bounce in tourism. Steamboat notched its typical last tourism peak of the summer during the first week in August and then began a gradual seasonal decline in lodging occupancy.
Three lodging properties on U.S. Highway 40 reported Wednesday afternoon that they are booked full Friday night and closing in on 100 percent occupancy Saturday night.
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