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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04. Dean Runyan and Longwoods studies Colorado tourism spending plummeted 36% in 2020, reports find Pear Lake, in the Wild Basin backcountry area of Rocky Mountain National Park, the most visited national park in Colorado MARK HARDEN | DENVER BUSINESS JOURNAL By Ed Sealover – Senior Reporter, Denver Business Journal Aug 6, 2021, 4:53pm EDT Colorado tourism spending plummeted by nearly $9 billion in 2020, leading to the loss of more than 31,000 jobs as coronavirus drove away both domestic and international visitors, according to a pair of studies released Friday by the Colorado Tourism Office. Overall visitation to the state fell 14.7% from the 86.9 million people who took day or overnight trips in Colorado in 2019 to slightly more than 74.1 million in 2020, according to the 2020 Dean Runyan Travel Study and Longwoods Travel USA Visitor Profile. International visitors particularly disappeared, falling by 73% down to 1.05 million, but a comparatively smaller 9% decrease in day trips by in-state visitors helped to buoy the vital tourism industry slightly. Still, the loss of higher-spending out-of-state tourists led to a 36,3% drop in travel spending, from a record $24.2 billion in 2019 to $15.4 billion in 2020, according to the studies. The decline largely mirrored the national falloff in tourism revenues, which was about 36%. And that lack of money — as well as restrictions on everything from professional sports teams to restaurant operations to ski-resort access — produced 31,700 fewer tourism- industry jobs in 2020, a 17.5% decline from the year before. The largest effect was felt in the accommodations and food services sector, which shed about 19,900 jobs, CTO officials said. “We knew the pandemic was having a severe impact on the tourism industry and now we have a better understanding to what extent,” said Jill Corbin, who is serving as interim CTO director before the newly appointed Timothy Wolfe steps into the role full time on Aug. 23. “Fortunately, the governor, the Office of Economic Development and International Trade, the CTO and the Legislature began working immediately on efforts to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic and continue to stand up recovery programs.” Those efforts included small marketing campaigns that encouraged safe practices for those visiting the state, though Gov. Jared Polis specifically asked the CTO to hold off its usual national marketing campaigns in 2020. Mountain towns saw steady business throughout last summer as Rocky Mountain region residents sought drive-to destinations and outdoor-focused getaways, and some areas of southwest Colorado actually reported growth in 2020, the CTO said. However, Front Range cities that make up a substantial portion of the state’s tourism revenues got pummeled by the complete cessation of events and substantial-sized meetings. Denver, which accounts for nearly 25% of travel-related spending Colorado in a normal year, recorded a 56% decline in that area in 2020, and the more business- travel-focused areas in El Paso, Arapahoe and Larimer Counties got hit harder than the state as a whole also. Legislators approved a new $10 million incentives program that offers grants to hotels and event venues to attract gatherings that produce at least 25 room nights in local lodging facilities through the end of next year. Meanwhile, the CTO selected 28 destinations to participate in the Restart Destinations Program, in which participants get an assessment of their area’s recovery, technical assistance and direct marketing support from the CTO. Through the first half of the year, leisure and hospitality employment levels were down only 11.5% from the same time frame in 2019, according to state numbers. However, a growing number of businesses are concerned that the increasing number of coronavirus cases brought about by the Delta variant and the potentially slowing effect that could have on both business and leisure travel once again. “This is a good indicator that we are moving in the right direction and the quicker people get the Covid vaccine, the quicker our tourism economy will continue to recover,” said Patrick Meyers, OEDIT executive director, in a statement.