From Lemons to Lemonade

Colorado ski Resorts Set Record For Visitors Despite Weather Woes
By SANDY SHORE

AP Business Writer

DENVER (AP) -- The fickle winter that pounded parts of the Rockies boosted Colorado's ski resorts to a record-setting year yet left resorts in other parts of the country wanting, trade groups said.

Colorado's 26 resorts logged 12.6 million skier visits for the season, up 0.22 percent from the 12.5 million in 2005-2006, Colorado Ski Country USA reported Thursday.

Nationwide, the $6 billion ski industry reported 54.8 million visitors, down 7 percent from last year's record of 58.9 million, according to the National Ski Areas Association. Warm weather hurt resorts in most parts of the country except the Rockies, the association said.

In Colorado, destination resorts, where guests typically stay more than a day, and smaller ski areas both saw increases. But resorts closest to metropolitan Denver were hurt when winter storms kept day skiers and snowboarders from driving to the slopes, Colorado Ski Country said.
"With marginal snowfall around the globe, this was a challenging season for the industry," said Rob Perlman, Colorado Ski Country's chief executive officer and president.

"It was our goal to sustain last year's growth and surpass the 12 million mark to set a new benchmark for the state," he said in a statement.

The industry measures business by a skier visit, defined as one person buying and using a lift ticket for all or part of a day.

The Rocky Mountain region, which includes Colorado, set a record with 21 million skier visits, about 38 percent of the total industry visits, the National Ski Areas Association said.

"If you look from coast to coast, the Rocky Mountain region did very well," NSAA President Michael Berry said. "The snow was still off somewhat but the destination market buoyed the business. It was a bright spot in what was an otherwise a down weather year."

Skier visits declined 16.5 percent each in the Southeast and Pacific West regions. The Northeast region reported a 6.7 percent decline and the Midwest reported a 5.9 percent decline.

The nation's smaller ski areas closer to cities did better, Berry said. Those areas attract skiers and snowboarders who are newer to the sport and those looking for a convenient place within easy reach.

Colorado's destination resorts reported 3.8 million skier visits last season, up 2.3 percent in a year-over-year comparison, the best showing in a decade in this category, Ski Country said. Resorts include Aspen's ski areas, Telluride, Steamboat Springs and Crested Butte.

Smaller ski areas had 1.4 million skier visits, up 3.3 percent from the previous season. Arapahoe Basin, Eldora, Loveland and Sunlight resorts are included in this category.

The Front Range resorts, such as Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Winter Park and Vail, had 7.4 million skier visits, down 1.3 percent. Much of the blame for the decline was put on storms that snarled traffic along Interstate 70, the key route between metropolitan Denver and the ski areas.

The results boosted Colorado's market share to nearly 23 percent of the nationwide ski business, Ski Country said.

In the past five years, Colorado skier visits have climbed 7.7 percent, with the most growth - 13.1 percent - recorded by the smaller ski areas.
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Of coarse In Estes Park the town applied for and received FEMA disaster relief funds.

Because of the snow.

If you had a business in Estes Park you would have been better off on the moon.

Sixty miles from three million people!

Don't they all know we just built a new visitors center, just for them?

The Rich Get Richer

DENVER – The year of 2006 was the best in the history of the City of Denver for tourism, according to a new study released on Wednesday.

Longwoods International, the group that produced the study, says 11.7 million overnight visitors came through Denver last year, which is a 13 percent increase over the 10.4 million overnight visitors who came in 2005. That is the largest single year increase in tourism in Denver's history.

The study, which was commissioned by the Denver Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau, found that in 2006, visitors to the metro area spent a record $2.76 billion. That is also up 13 percent over the $2.43 billion spent in 2005. "It knocks me off my feet," said Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper about the new records. "If you told me that we were going to deliver 11.7 million visitors last year I would have said you're out of your mind, you're totally crazy, you're using medical marijuana or something."

The study also found that the number of visits to friends and family in Denver jumped 17 percent, and the number of "marketable" visitors climbed 12 percent, another record. Marketable visitors are those who are not visiting friends or relatives, but could have chosen any destination, but chose to visit Denver. They spend an average of $93 a day in 2006, versus only $43 a day for those visiting friends or family. The 3.6 million visitors, and 2.6 million business travelers, beat the national increase of just 5 percent in 2006.

The study also found most popular Denver area shopping areas in 2006 were:
1. 16th Street Mall
2. Cherry Creek Shopping Center
3. Flatirons Crossing
4. Castle Rock Factory Outlets
5. Colorado Mills
6. Park Meadows Retail Resort
7. Larimer Square 8. Denver Pavilions
9. The Shops at Tabor Center
10. Belmar

The most popular sights, attractions and events were:

1. LoDo (Lower Downtown Historic District)
2. Coors Brewery 3. Red Rocks Amphitheatre
4. Denver Zoo
5. Colorado State Capitol
6. Colorado Rockies
7. IMAX/Denver Museum of Nature & Science
8. Buffalo Bill's Museum and Grave
9. Denver Botanic Gardens
10. U.S. Mint
11. Downtown Aquarium
12. Denver Art Museum
13. Elitch Gardens
14. Tiny Town
15. Theatrical and musical performances

While in-state tourists went down in 2006, to 12 percent, more than half of Denver's tourists came from the West.

States sending visitors to Denver were (in order):
1. Colorado
2. Texas
3. California
4. Arizona
5. Florida
6. Illinois
7. Wyoming
8. Michigan
9. Minnesota
10. Georgia

The top urban areas sending significant leisure travel to Denver in 2006 were:

1. Los Angeles
2. Colorado Springs-Pueblo
3. Phoenix
4. Dallas-Ft. Worth
5. Chicago
6. Minneapolis-St. Paul
7. Houston
8. St. Louis
9. Washington D.C.
10. Albuquerque-Santa Fe

The study found that eight out of 10 vacationers to Denver traveled 500 miles or more to get here. That is twice the national average. Because of this, Denver visitors plan their trips further out than most visitors and they are more likely to fly. Denver visitors are also more likely to use the Internet to get information, with 45 percent of visitors checking things online before coming.

The average number of nights spent in Denver rose to 3.3 in 2006, up from 2.9 in 2005 and 2.6 in 2004. Additionally, one out of three business travelers combined their trip with pleasure when coming to Denver. This number brings the city's percentage back up to where it was before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The study found that 71 percent of Denver's visitors said they would enjoy visiting again. That is up from 67 percent in 2005 and 64 percent in 2004. It is unclear if these trends will continue in 2007, but the Democratic National Convention, set for 2008, is expected to bring $150 to $200 million in economic benefits to Denver.

(Copyright KUSA*TV. All rights reserved.)


In 2004 Tom Pickering made claim that the towns (Estes Park) advertising budget rivals that of Denver.

Obviously the results are not the same.

The Denver CVB is the Denver Metro Area Marketing District, one of the very first to take advantage of the marketing district act seven years ago (Denver is a Home Rule community). The Denver CVB is a function of the Denver Metro Area Business Community, it has nothing to do with the Denver City Government.

The Estes Park CVB is a Town funded department of the town. Operated/ managed by town employees.

From the Headlines-Accident Victim Airlifted Out!

A motorcycle rider was recently injured in an incident on Hwy 36. Fortunately, the local $22,000,000 hospital addition had a heli-pad that they could use to call into use to transfer the patient to a credible medical facility.

The Estes Park Medical Center tried to treat the patient in the new lobby, but was not equipped to provide medical services there as they were busy giving tours to potential donors for their much needed emergency treatment center.

Hospital spokesmen stated “this just proves we need money for medical services in this town, as our lobby is being used for other services, like fundraising and galas. The people in this town just can’t get their priorities together and we hope this will be a lesson for them.”