Springs' tourism industry cheers 'a good summer'

With Labor Day behind us and fall fast approaching, most segments of Colorado Springs’ $1-billion-a-year tourism industry are wrapping up a strong summer season.

At the Pikes Peak Country Attractions Association, which represents most of the local tourist destinations, this week has been the calm after the storm, executive director Michele Carvell said.

“Today, it’s like somebody turned a faucet off,” she said Wednesday. “We’re just happy that it lasted until Labor Day this year.”

The summer season started slowly, Carvell said, but it picked up and several local destinations set records over the Labor Day weekend.

“All indications were that it was a good summer,” Carvell said. “I think the real key to our region is that we are an affordable vacation destination.”

Last year, “staycations” and steep discounting were the order of the day. While people are still interested in deals, Carvell said, they’re not making travel decisions based strictly on their pocketbooks.

Chelsy Murphy, public relations manager for Experience Colorado Springs, the convention and visitors bureau, said Labor Day finished the summer season on a high note.

“Everyone was expecting traffic numbers to be over last year,” Murphy said.

David Carroll, executive director at the Western Museum of Mining & Industry, said summer attendance was roughly flat from 2009.

“It was good,” he said. “It felt busier.”

Donations are up slightly this year, although the growth in giving is lower than it has been in recent years, Carroll said.

The numbers back up the general sentiment of a better summer: Colorado Springs’ Lodging and Auto Rental Tax revenue is up 6.2 percent so far this year over 2009. Local hotel occupancy and room rates are also both up over last year. Occupancy rates in July were up 3.5 percentage points from 2009— the fifth straight month of year-over-year improvement.

One exception to the general success was the Pikes Peak Highway. The city-owned highway suffered through poor weather early in the year and traffic was slightly off through the summer, said highway manager Jack Glavan. Through August, the number of visitors to the highway was down about 4 percent from 2009, Glavan said, and only July saw an increase in visitors.

“We started behind and never really caught up much,” he said.
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