DENVER -- Colorado mountain towns are seeing a boom in summer tourism. Lodging at the resort towns are up 7 percent from last year, making 2016 the fifth consecutive record summer.
Tourists are taking advantage of off-season prices and filling lodges, Interstate 70, and mountain trails. Summer has become 92 percent as busy as the winter ski months, according to DestiMetrics surveys.
The packed roads and trails have not gone unnoticed by locals. Ralf Garrison, director and principal of DestiMetrics, told Denver7 that Colorado resort towns are not crying for more visitors, but better management and mitigation of the current crowd.
“It’s not going to be possible to continue to grow at summer or winter at the same pace because we are at capacity,” Garrison told The Denver Post.
The Denver Post, a Denver7 partner, reported the population boom on the Front Range is fueling the record traffic.
Garrison says the summer tourist season has recovered from the Great Recession, with an 80 percent increase in lodging since 2008.
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