Tourism Pays for Denver
Denver visitors stimulate the local economy and benefit: hotels, meeting facilities, attractions, restaurants, cultural institutions, tour companies, transportation providers, local farmers and countless other businesses.
- Denver had a record 13.6 million total overnight visitors in 2012, up 3% over 13.2 million in 2011.
- Denver visitors generated a total of $3.6 billion in spending in 2012, up from $3.3 billion in 2011.
- Tourism supports 50,000 jobs in metro Denver.
- Tourism saves every Denver household $458 a year in taxes; this is the amount of tax dollars every household would have to pay if not for the more than $879 million in taxes paid annually by visitors.
- Lodging expenditures in 2012 accounted for $1.0 billion in visitor spending, while overnight visitors spent an additional $705 million in Denver's food and beverage establishments.
- Expenditures by overnight visitors on transportation in Denver, including gas and car rentals, totaled $992 million in 2012, and purchases at retail stores totaled approximately $499 million.
- Overnight visitors spent $353 million last year at Denver's paid attractions and on other recreational and sightseeing activities.
- The "value" of people who visit Denver and stay in commercial accommodations isn't limited to just the amount they spend on accommodations. As VISIT DENVER has observed for many years, these people also spend much more on other things than people staying with friends and relatives or in non-commercial accommodations.
- VISIT DENVER focuses its marketing efforts on "Marketable Visitors," those who respond to marketing messages and have a choice on where they vacation. They spend much more than other visitors, averaging $104 per day, while business travelers spend $112 per day, much more than $49 per day spent by people staying with friends and relatives, and the $53 per day spent by day visitors.
Sources: Dean Runyan Associates, 2011 & Longwoods International, 2012 Travel Year
