Denver attracts record 16.4 million visitors in 2015

Visitors to Denver in 2015 came from farther away, stayed longer, spent more and showed up in greater numbers — 16.4 million, to be exact — than ever before, according to a study released Wednesday by Visit Denver, the area's convention and visitors bureau.

The number of people coming to the area for overnight trips surged 6 percent from the previous record total recorded in 2014, according to the survey for Visit Denver by Longwoods International USA Inc, a travel consulting firm.

That rise included both a 6 percent bump in leisure travellers and a 9 percent bump in business travellers — the latter number particularly notable because business travel was flat nationally last year.

Those visitors spent $5 billion in the local economy, a 9 percent boost from 2014. Lodging accounted for the greatest portion of that spending (30 percent), followed closely by transportation (29 percent) and eating/drinking (20 percent).

The fact that Denver broke records for visitors and spending is not surprising — the area has been doing so pretty much every year since voters agreed to increase the lodgers' tax in 2005 and Visit Denver ramped up its marketing in other cities.

But the fact that Denver's visits are growing at three times the national rate of 2 percent shows that the city is making very good investments in targeting out-of-state markets and has put itself on the rise in terms of national destinations, said Amir Eylon, Longwoods president.

'You're seeing growth paces that double the national average,' Eylon said at a press conference Wednesday where the survey results were unveiled.

Eylon said that visitors have risen 52 percent since the 2005 marketing tax increase in Denver, while they've risen just 20 percent nationwide. 'The takeaway here is that you guys are becoming a real national draw," he said.

To illustrate that point, Eylon noted that just five years ago, 60 percent of out-of-state visitors to Denver came from western and southwestern states, but that figured dropped to 50 percent in 2015. Meanwhile, the number of tourists coming to the Mile High City from the Northeast doubled from 5 percent to 10 percent over that same period.

[Full article here.]