Pikes Peak needs to get word out, study says

Tourism study urges promotion

The wonders of the Pikes Peak region, including sightseeing, hiking and camping, rafting and canoeing and the region's natural beauty, are marketable, but tourism leaders need to cooperate in order to maximize their efforts to attract visitors and their dollars.

That was the message offered Monday by Bill Siegel, president of Longwoods International, a research firm headquartered in Toronto.

Siegel presented his conclusions following a year-long marketing study of Pikes Peak tourism that showed that most visitors to the area are visiting friends and relatives.

The study was commissioned by the Pikes Peak Country Attractions Association last year due to a decline in tourism to the area. Officials attribute the decline to a voter decision to disband the Colorado Tourism Board five years ago due to a lack of funds.

"Since 1992 our share of the overnight U.S. pleasure trips (to Colorado) has actually declined by 30 percent," said Kitty Clemens, executive director of the Pikes Peak Country Attractions Association.

"The Pikes Peak region has been hurting since the demise of the state tourism board," Siegel said Monday. He estimated that the state has lost about $2 billion in tourist revenue in the past five years.

State legislators appropriated $1 million for tourism promotion this year. Siegel called that a "piddling amount."

Siegel said that the survey indicated that the family atmosphere, the fact that visitors perceive the Pikes Peak region as an exiting place to vacation and the area's beautiful scenery are all key factors in attracting tourist dollars.

"You have the product. You have to get the message out," Siegel told local tourism officials and representatives of several area attractions.

Terry Sullivan, president of the Colorado Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the region has about $2.8 million available to promote local attractions. Sullivan said the money comes from visitors bureau membership dues, a 2 percent local lodging tax and a 1 percent tax on auto rental, as well as donor pledges.

Sullivan said hotel occupancy is down 6 percent over the same time last year, and 1,500 more hotel rooms have been built in the past year.

"We need to increase hotel occupancy. People need to spend money in the hotels," Sullivan said. "That benefits the region and also puts more money into the lodging tax fund, which can then be used to promote the area," he said.

Siegel said that if the state Legislature can't come up with more tourism promotion money, local attraction operators will have to find ways to use their limited funds in the most effective manner.

Sullivan said it takes time for increased ad dollars to show some results. "If we put $12 million into the state program, it would take two to three years to see any effect," he said.