Destination: Denver
Record number of overnight visitors came to the city in 2005
Denver attracted a record 10.4 million overnight visitors last year as business trips to the metro area surged by a whopping 25 percent, according to a new study released Tuesday.
The tourism survey, commissioned by the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau, revealed several positive developments for the city including a spike in the number of travelers who tacked on pleasure excursions to work trips.
"Hopefully this is the beginning of a new trend," said Richard Scharf, president of the convention bureau.
The recent convention center expansion helped lure more business travelers, Scharf said. And with thousands more hotel rooms now available, Scharf and other tourism executives say Denver will become a magnet for even bigger business meetings and conventions.
Denver's performance outstripped national trends, according to the study, conducted for the bureau by Toronto research firm Longwoods International. The report showed business trips in the U.S. market up only 1 percent in 2005 compared with the year earlier.
Hotel executives say the report bodes well for Denver's future.
"If business travel is back, are we as a city going to prosper even more? You bet," said Patti O'Keefe, general manager of the Denver Marriott City Center and chairwoman of the convention bureau board.
Already, 2006 has shaped up to be a much stronger year for business travel than 2005, O'Keefe said. And that takes into account that many conventions declined to book big events for this year because of uncertainty earlier in the decade about when the new convention center hotel would be finished.
"We are seeing business travel increases over last year," said Tom Curley, area managing director for the Westin Tabor Center. "Last year was a very good year, too."
Jan Lucas, general manager of the recently opened Residence Inn Denver City Center, echoed those sentiments.
"It's a strong year," she said.
The study showed visitors to the metro area spent a record $2.43 billion, up 5 percent from 2004. Four in 10 business travelers extended their stay for recreational purposes.
A 2005 lodging tax increase, approved by voters in November, gives the bureau an extra $4 million for tourism marketing. But the agency began collecting that money in January, so the funds had no impact on the 2005 tourism numbers, the bureau said.
Overall, leisure travel to Denver remained unchanged at 7.9 million visitors. But bureau officials touted the increase in "marketable (leisure) visitors," those who are not staying with family or friends.
That segment increased by 7 percent to 3.2 million last year. Those travelers spend more money, an average of $91 a day compared with the average $42 a day spent by those staying with relatives.
The number of visitors bunking with relatives dropped to 4.7 million from 4.9 million the year before.
Shopping malls continued to dominate the rankings of Denver's most popular tourist attractions. In the paid category, however, the Denver Zoo came out on top.
It nudged out last year's reported leader: the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, which fell to second place. The 80-acre zoo drew 1.7 million visitors in 2005, according to spokeswoman Tiffany Barnhart.