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If the millions in Denver would "stay-cate" to other parts of CO, it might just make up for the lack of other USA vacationers.....A nice vacation is still possible, with the added bonus of supporting the state you live in......Spend what few dollars they have on something that may just benefit them in other ways, rather than somewhere else (which I call "outsourcing your vacation")......
Since Denver is the biggest city in the state, any other in-state location would be a change of pace and new scenery......
As per what Jazz mentioned, maybe the other locations could "embellish" the term "locals discount" to include in-state visitors in order to solve that problem.....
So now we have a moral obligation to vacation in Colorado? I. . . don't. . . think. . . so!
I'll do my best to drop money in Ouray-Ridgway-Montrose in July. I have, however, rented an economy car- usually get upgraded to a small V-6 to pull the hills and have a/c, but this year I'm only going to be going around the above towns, so don't need a serious highway driving car.
I will make up for it in art and restaurants, I hope.
Proveick is right. The high country is stacked with snow, a couple of my favorite fishing spots here on the western slope I won't be going to for another month or so till the roads open up.
I live off the I-70 Fruita exit and things for the most part are still flat. The only area that stays constant is the truck stop; however the restaurant inside the complex isn't setting retail records at all. The fast food places are holding their own but still they're business is a tad flat. At the truck stop and also the Shell station the clerks tell me there are a fair amount of families who are doubling up, traveling in one big RV, where they can split expenses.
I've been familiar with Colorado's license plate prefixes for a long time and surprisingly I'm seeing a sizable drop of people coming in from the front range counties. And am seeing more out of state plates from the western states as opposed to eastern states.
A quick observation today from my earlier post. Surprisingly the gas stations (Shell and the truck stop) are quiet as a mouse this afternoon, but not McDonalds or Taco Bell. We have a science and learning center on the same exit (formerly Dinomation, now called Dinosaur Journey) that have been running a lot of radio advertising the past week and they have been fairly busy the last few days. Most of the cars in the parking lot are Mesa County residents but there is a smattering of cars with Moffat and Rio Blanco county tags coming into the Junction area.
One positive note was this past week as Grand Junction hosted JUCO. It's the junior college world series which attracted teams and schools from South Carolina to Iowa to Arizona. Grand Junction has hosted this event since 1959 and the event staff always does a good job organizing everything. I generally get a season pass so I can get go to as many games as I want as it goes for a full week. Sadly the stands weren't as full as I've seen in previous years, with the exception of the JUCO championship game. Some of the out of state folks I talked to in the stands were having a great time as a lot of them having never been in Colorado before. Saw a lot of kids who could play ball! At the JUCO banquet, the featured speaker was former New York Yankee star Bernie Williams. Bernie has been retired from baseball for several years and recently has been releasing some CD's. He's always been interested in jazz guitar, he's pretty darn good too!
Much as I'd like to see a strong 2011 tourist season, there's signs that all is not well in this sector:
1) Rafting companies are being flooded out from prime stretches of rivers with yet to arrive huge snowmelt for this season. A lot depends upon how fast the climate warms up and the snowmelt arrives.
Similarly, some fishing areas are not fishable and may not be for some time.
2) Tourist oriented counties in the high country are seeing substantially reduced property values indicating a depressed market for those discretionary 2nd home or vacation rental dollars. I've seen assessed valuations in Eagle County drop by as much as 75% in some areas, and many 45-50% reductions.
3) The interval ownership marketplace is way down. Discretionary dollars aren't flowing into these places; the monthly maintenance fees are exceeding the income even in high season for many.
4) Some pretty prestigious summer resort areas are so upside down in cash flow that they're not even going to open up their principal attractions. Just last week, for example, Cordillera announced that they were only opening up 1 golf course out of their 4, and laying off two maintenance crews. While the economic problems of that area have been around for a few years, shutting down the attractions for the place is one step closer to just shutting it down absent a new financial angel to step in and risk the losses.
5) I've personally found that a number of restaurants in the tourist areas are noticeably cutting back on quality of food, without changing their menu offerings. In the time frame of 7 days last month in Eagle County, I got 5 truly horrific meals at different restaurants and food poisoning at one establishment that previously had decent fare with reasonable prices. All signs to me that the places are cutting corners as much as they can, to the point of not serving quality food anymore. That's 6 restaurants for me that won't see me back again ... and other patrons are going to find similar experiences. Why go to a resort area to spend discretionary dollars to get crappy food or a really bad experience that can ruin a trip? I think others will have similar experiences, and the word will get out. I, for one, have posted in several websites about my bad experiences (as well as the one good one) ... and noticed that reviews from years past were complimentary with other, more recent reviews having similar experiences to mine. It's not just one or two restaurants, it's many of them that are having hard times right now.
6) High cost of fuel will certainly deter some from traveling the distances, but incrementally, that's only a few dollars more for a trip up from the Front Range to the resort areas. What's more significant is that people simply don't have the discretionary dollars for tourist activities that they did of a few years ago.
Much as I'd like to see a strong 2011 tourist season, there's signs that all is not well in this sector:
2) Tourist oriented counties in the high country are seeing substantially reduced property values indicating a depressed market for those discretionary 2nd home or vacation rental dollars. I've seen assessed valuations in Eagle County drop by as much as 75% in some areas, and many 45-50% reductions.
3) The interval ownership marketplace is way down. Discretionary dollars aren't flowing into these places; the monthly maintenance fees are exceeding the income even in high season for many.
4) Some pretty prestigious summer resort areas are so upside down in cash flow that they're not even going to open up their principal attractions. Just last week, for example, Cordillera announced that they were only opening up 1 golf course out of their 4, and laying off two maintenance crews. While the economic problems of that area have been around for a few years, shutting down the attractions for the place is one step closer to just shutting it down absent a new financial angel to step in and risk the losses.
5) I've personally found that a number of restaurants in the tourist areas are noticeably cutting back on quality of food, without changing their menu offerings. In the time frame of 7 days last month in Eagle County, I got 5 truly horrific meals at different restaurants and food poisoning at one establishment that previously had decent fare with reasonable prices. All signs to me that the places are cutting corners as much as they can, to the point of not serving quality food anymore. That's 6 restaurants for me that won't see me back again ... and other patrons are going to find similar experiences. Why go to a resort area to spend discretionary dollars to get crappy food or a really bad experience that can ruin a trip? I think others will have similar experiences, and the word will get out. I, for one, have posted in several websites about my bad experiences (as well as the one good one) ... and noticed that reviews from years past were complimentary with other, more recent reviews having similar experiences to mine. It's not just one or two restaurants, it's many of them that are having hard times right now.
6) High cost of fuel will certainly deter some from traveling the distances, but incrementally, that's only a few dollars more for a trip up from the Front Range to the resort areas. What's more significant is that people simply don't have the discretionary dollars for tourist activities that they did of a few years ago.
2. I think there has been way too much overbuilding for what the market can bear in terms of those that have money and those that meet that requirement that actually have an interest in owning a second home in the Colorado mountains. Over the years I saw some interest shift elsewhere and people are always looking for the next big thing. I could be wrong but I think the mountain real estate market will be flat for a long time. For one thing the Gen X and Y generation seems more interested in experiences and tech gear rather than ponderous stuff like mountain homes.
3. The shared ownership market I think is doomed as it is right now. I met many people over the years involved in properties like the ritz carlton club in bachelor gulch or the hyatt club in beaver creek and breckenridge and so on. My impression of those people was they were wannabe rich that wanted to be able say they had a condo in Vail or whatever. For the most part these were people living paycheck to paycheck, just that they had a high income and I am without doubt the economic crash blew away a lot of those people like a fart in the wind.
4. Well Cordillera is having a turf war going on that may or may not be related to the economy. Cordillera was always a weird property that in many ways made sense, in so many more never did. The Lodge never found it's way as there is nothing to do up there at the Lodge and it's 40 minutes to Vail. It was bought out and renovated after the Kobe scandal and still it never took off.
The golf courses are beautiful, but probably many don't know about them and they are pricey. The neighborhood going up to the summit is far more extensive than anyone would realize, takes probably 30 minutes to get up there from US 6.
You can drive through Cordillera during the winter and the place is totally dead, no lights on in the houses, no people, no sign of life. In the summer because of the golfing it was more lively but still a pretty dead place. The homes rarely seemed used compared to large homes in Vail and BC.
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From what I hear business is expected to be decent this summer in Vail and we will see how it shakes out in the rest of Colorado.
Approx half of the campsites at the Ampitheater Campground in Ouray were vacant during the recent Memorial Day weekend. Last year the campground was full to the brim by 11 AM each day. This year, my wife and I left a day early...too much wind for a fair weather camper like me.
Last edited by CosmicWizard; 06-07-2011 at 09:53 AM..
Proveick is right. The high country is stacked with snow, a couple of my favorite fishing spots here on the western slope I won't be going to for another month or so till the roads open up.
I live off the I-70 Fruita exit and things for the most part are still flat. The only area that stays constant is the truck stop; however the restaurant inside the complex isn't setting retail records at all. The fast food places are holding their own but still they're business is a tad flat. At the truck stop and also the Shell station the clerks tell me there are a fair amount of families who are doubling up, traveling in one big RV, where they can split expenses.
I've been familiar with Colorado's license plate prefixes for a long time and surprisingly I'm seeing a sizable drop of people coming in from the front range counties. And am seeing more out of state plates from the western states as opposed to eastern states.
Funny, I always stay at the H Motel there in Fruita, strategically located next to a liquor store and a minute's walk to Fiesta Guadalajara...
I guess I'll need to cancel my room for Thurs/Fri since it sounds likely that I-70 West of Fruita is going to be under water in the next couple days...
Maybe the tourists will be recruited to help fight the fires this summer!
Is that what they refer to as an adventure vacation?
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Funny, I always stay at the H Motel there in Fruita, strategically located next to a liquor store and a minute's walk to Fiesta Guadalajara...
I guess I'll need to cancel my room for Thurs/Fri since it sounds likely that I-70 West of Fruita is going to be under water in the next couple days...
Heyyyy! I'm famous! lol Just had breakfast at my favorite mom and pop breakfast right next to that motel a couple hours ago!And yea, I've bought a few items from that liquor store and once every other week the Fiesta gets a visit from me as well.
That place goes back a few decades as does the other mom and pop motel down the road a ways, the Balanced Rock motel. As far as getting wet, come on in, the water's fine!
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And yea, I've bought a few items from that liquor store and once every other week the Fiesta gets a visit from me as well.
