How do you think tourism will hold up this summer? (Denver: motel, income)

[proveick]

After much of the high country being closed due to snow for the Memorial day weekend I have a feeling the mud season will be late and long.
A lot of atv trails will be snowpacked till July.
Rafting however should be strong. RP

[DOUBLE H]

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.

[jim9251]

Business owner friends in Ouray County told me last year was horrible. They are not expecting a good summer this year at all. Heavy snowpack in the mountains have most of the jeep trails still closed, and the Mesa County Sheriff has said stay off the Colorado which is under a flood warning. The Gunnison is also high and people are being asked not to float it, and we're expecting floods here. All that with $4.00 plus a gallon gas...I have seen lots of motorcycles though.

[proveick]

I've noticed attendance to FIBArk Whitewater Festival : Since 1949 : Historic Downtown Salida, Colorado : June 15 - 19, 2011 has gone down also over the past 3 years. RP

[jazzlover]

I still plan on posting a synopsis on my view of the rural Colorado economy in a new thread, but I've been too busy to write it. Short answer to this post--the folks I know who run tourist-related businesses are girding for a dismal summer season. Weather is not the only factor. Discretionary income, especially in the middle and lower-middle classes, has been decimated for many--the money for vacations is just very limited, if it's there at all. The most common comment from the various businesspeople I talk to every day is cryptic: "People just don't have any money." One also can not discount the fact that many Colorado "tourists" are actually Coloradans--and many Colorado residents are suffering severely from the recession/depression still in full force in this state. I was up in the hills in my local area over the Memorial Day weekend and it has been years since I've seen so few non-locals around. Most of the people up there were from less than 100 miles away, a lot from less than 50--and, at that, way fewer of even the locals milling around. I suspect that there will be a lot of tourist-related enterprises that won't be around anymore by the end of the fall.

[Colorado Rambler]

Out here in Cortez, tourism is way down. I don't think it has much to do with the snow pack since most people come here to see Mesa Verde and possibly Hovenweep. I work as a desk clerk in a motel here and the number of guests is way down from previous years. We get a lot of Europeans still, but they don't make up for the dearth of Americans. We still suffer from the weak economy and the high price of gas.

[Idunn]

There has certainly been a decided increase of traffic in the mountains come warmer weather, as usual. At exactly what volume compared to 'normal,' cannot say as yet.

One thing that seems fairly consistent so far is a prevalence of SUVs and other vehicles on the road that might see 20mpg on a good day. Most of them driven, as well, as if little thought of conservation. It may be interesting to see how such habits change when the price of petrol continues to rise well past $4.

[naturegirll]

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.....

[elan]

I've been traveling 160 for the last five weeks. It looks a tad slow to me, but motorcycle traffic is increasing.

[DOUBLE H]

Originally Posted by jim9251

Business owner friends in Ouray County told me last year was horrible. They are not expecting a good summer this year at all. Heavy snowpack in the mountains have most of the jeep trails still closed, and the Mesa County Sheriff has said stay off the Colorado which is under a flood warning. The Gunnison is also high and people are being asked not to float it, and we're expecting floods here. All that with $4.00 plus a gallon gas...I have seen lots of motorcycles though.

Jim9251 is right. Regarding the Colorado River, CDOT already has orange cones and barricades sitting on the west side of I-70 ready to put them in place, was just through there yesterday. The river crosses underneath the interstate just a little west of mile marker 18. Several years ago they had to divert westbound 70 traffic to exit 19 and then go 6/50 to the Loma exit and then back to I-70 and the water was up and over the road. CDOT diverted the traffic for a couple days if memory serves.