Colorado Springs tourism industry leaders are optimistic the Pikes Peak region will enjoy robust visitor spending during the summer tourism season that begins with this weekend’s Memorial Day holiday, despite a slow start for some attractions this spring.
Stable gas prices, a surprisingly robust national economy, surging passenger traffic at the Colorado Springs Airport and a few new and expanded tourist attractions are expected to fuel another strong tourism season even as some economists warn of a potential slowdown in consumer spending. While most industry leaders expect a small increase in visitor numbers, some hope for even more as marketing efforts gain traction.
Doug Price, CEO of Visit Colorado Springs, the Pikes Peak region’s primary tourism marketing agency, expects a 3% increase in visitor numbers from last year, likely enough to push collections from the city’s tax on hotel rooms and rental cars past last year’s record $10 million. The tax, a key indicator of tourism spending, set records in each of the previous three years, though last year’s increase was just 2%.
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“People are back traveling again,” Price said. “I think it will be an exciting summer. The business forecast is good from what I have heard from the (region’s) hotels and attractions. For us, it is really all about events and I believe we will see a sustained increase from mid-June into September from the events that are scheduled this summer. I am very hopeful.”
Price’s forecast matches a similar nationwide outlook published in January by the U.S. Travel Association, which calls for a 3.2% increase in the number of tourists this year over 2023. Although domestic leisure travel by auto makes up the bulk of tourist trips nationwide, business, international and air travel are expected to grow faster, according to the trade group’s prediction. Nationwide tourist spending, adjusted for inflation, is expected to grow by 5.2%.
A Bank of America survey last month of more than 2,000 people found 72% of respondents plan to travel this summer, similar to last year, though they said they’ll try to save money by taking shorter trips and less expensive vacations, while also not traveling as far because of inflation concerns. Nearly two-thirds of the travelers plan domestic vacations, which will benefit U.S. destinations as consumers seek experiences, especially major events.
Locally, special events that range from sports competitions to museum openings have been a key contributor in recent years to attracting visitors and fueling their spending, and the same is expected this summer, Price said. The World Jump Rope Championship and National Weightlifting Championships, held last year at Colorado College’s Ed Robson Arena, were major contributors to attracting visitors, he said.
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Events this year include the June 1 reopening of the Space Foundation’s Discovery Center; major regional softball, soccer and lacrosse tournaments expected to attract 30,000 participants and spectators in July; the Rocky Mountain State Games from July 19-21; the Downtown Summer Fest on July 27 that celebrates the opening of the Summer Olympics in Paris; the Aug. 9 opening of the 8,000-seat Sunset Amphitheater outdoor music venue on the city’s north side; and the Aug. 17-18 Pikes Peak Regional Airshow that features the Navy’s Blue Angels flying team.
The Discovery Center, a space-focused museum inside the Space Foundation’s Colorado Springs headquarters, will reopen after a $3 million, six-month renovation and expansion that is expected to more than triple annual visitor numbers to 100,000.
The center will include a new 3D printing lab and a “Drone Zone” that will allow visitors to get a sense of flying on a different planet, six other new exhibits and upgrades to its Mars Robotics Laboratory and its Science on a Sphere theater.
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July’s Downtown Summer Fest at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum will feature a 5K run and walk, a kickoff for the Summer Olympics in Paris with sports and other demonstrations, live music and exhibits and a big-screen broadcast of Olympic and Paralympic competitions.
A similar event at the museum in 2022, which was tied to the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, attracted 5,000 people and 10,000 people are expected at this year’s event, said Davis Tutt, director of sports tourism and Olympic engagement for the Colorado Springs Sports Corp.
To promote Olympic-related visits, the museum, Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Visit Colorado Springs and other partners are spending $250,000 on a two-month advertising campaign to attract summer visitors from Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City and other cities within a day’s drive of Colorado Springs. Visit Colorado Springs spends about $1 million annually to promote summer tourism, Price said.
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“If you can’t go to Paris, what better place to visit than Olympic City USA, where you can feel the excitement and energy of the games? Don’t just watch the games, experience them here,” said Tommy Schield, who heads marketing, communications and programs for the museum.
Visit Colorado Springs and other partners also are spending another $250,000 on an advertising campaign tied to a nonstop flight to Baltimore that Southwest Airlines will launch June 4.
Part of the campaign will promote visits to Colorado Springs with ads in the Baltimore market through July, while another part of the campaign promotes the new Baltimore route locally through year’s end and is financed with funds from the city’s tax on hotel rooms and rental cars.
The $90 million Sunset Amphitheater is under construction southeast of Interstate 25 and North Gate Boulevard; it will host 22 shows between Aug. 9 and Oct. 17 featuring OneRepublic, the Beach Boys, Barenaked Ladies, the Steve Miller Band, ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd, among other performers.
Price expects the venue — targeted to host up to 45 shows a year in 2025 and beyond — to attract audiences from across Colorado and give people “another reason to visit Colorado Springs.”
J.W. Roth, CEO of Colorado Springs-based Notes Live, the amphitheater’s developer, said 80% of tickets for the first 18 of this year’s 22 planned shows have been sold. He estimated the venue will generate an annual economic impact of $200 million from concert attendees who spend at nearby hotels, restaurants and other businesses. About 40% of this year’s concertgoers will travel to Colorado Springs from outside El Paso County, he said.
Notes Live hasn’t yet begun selling hotel packages with tickets to out-of-town buyers, but Roth said he has been negotiating “stay-and-play” packages with several nearby hotels that would be marketed in future concert seasons.
The Pikes Peak Regional Airshow, held every other year at the military terminal at the Colorado Springs Airport, will feature the Blue Angels, along with vintage and current military aircraft.
The event drew a record crowd when last held in 2022 and is expected to draw 30,000 this year, said Tutt, of the Colorado Springs Sports Corp. The show benefits the National Museum of World War II Aviation at the city’s airport, as well as museums at Fort Carson and Peterson Space Force Base.
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Price also is encouraged by increased travel at the Colorado Springs and Denver airports. The number of departing and arriving passengers at the Colorado Springs Airport in the first three months of the year spiked nearly 20% from a year ago to 543,410. Passenger numbers for Denver International Airport for the same period are up 7.5% to 18.5 million.
Visitor numbers at local attractions in the first quarter were relatively flat after a major snowstorm in March and windy weather in April and May that hampered outdoor attractions, said P.K. McPherson, executive director of the Pikes Peak Attractions Association, a trade group for nearly 30 area tourist attractions and businesses.
But bookings for the summer are strong and point to increased visitor numbers for the rest of the year, McPherson said.
She’s optimistic about summer tourism because the organization’s YouTube channel has attracted more than 2 million followers after one of its videos in August went viral, getting nearly 1.3 million views. The video, “How My Parents Go to School,” features cycling, horseback riding, zip line rides, stand-up paddle boarding and climbing on a via ferrata — a climbing route with safeguards such as steel steps, ladders, railings and cables to prevent falls.
“I expect we might end up being up a little bit for the summer, but not a lot,” McPherson said. “Last year, visitors were booking three or four months out, but are only booking two or three weeks in advance now. It seems people are trying to hang onto their cash (longer) and not booking so early because of the economy and inflation. Despite the shorter booking window, we have stronger bookings at this point of the year than we did last year.”
McPherson’s forecast is consistent with short-term rental bookings monitored by the Colorado Tourism Office that indicate softness in June travel but slight increases in July and August, compared with a year earlier.
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Tatiana Bailey, executive director of Data-Driven Economic Strategies, a Colorado Springs economic and workforce research nonprofit, is concerned consumers might cut back on travel spending because of inflation and record debt levels.
She expects visitor numbers and spending in the Colorado Springs area this year will end up flat or down somewhat compared with last year, when pent-up consumer demand for travel boosted both indicators.
“We are starting to see a slowdown in U.S. (consumer) spending and that has been reinforced by a decline in consumer sentiment. Small business groups like the National Federation of Independent Business are also seeing a slowdown in consumption,” Bailey said. “I would expect tourism this year to be either flat with last year or a small decline. It won’t hit the wall, but it won’t be a banner year, either.”
Josh Friedlander, director of research for the U.S. Travel Association, said consumers “have general financial concerns, but when we asked people if they intend to travel (this year), the numbers remain quite high.”
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Tim Haas, CEO of the Colorado Retail Collection, which is composed of eight tourist-focused shops in Manitou Springs, Old Colorado City and Garden of the Gods Park, said sales at the company’s shops were up about 10% in the first quarter compared with the same period a year earlier, fueling optimism for the rest of the tourism season.
He worries about consumer debt levels, which he believes “are not sustainable in the long term,” but noted Colorado Springs remains “an affordable destination.”
Andy Neinas, CEO and owner of Echo Canyon River Expeditions in Cañon City, said he’s concerned about gas prices and inflation, yet believes most Americans still will take vacations and many people are “spending on experiences rather than material things.”