Denver Tourism Surged Past Pandemic Lows To Reach New Record
Denver welcomed a record number of tourists last year, according to new figures released by the city’s tourism agency in partnership with a research firm.
Some 37 million domestic visitors came to Denver in 2023, according to Visit Denver, a 3% rise from the previous record set in 2022.
Those visitors generated $10.3B in tourism revenue, an increase of nearly 10% from the then-record $9.4B set in 2022.
“Tourism is vital to the Denver economy and we are pleased to see our momentum continue in 2023, especially after the dramatic growth we saw in 2022,” Visit Denver President and CEO Richard Scharf said in a press release.
Denver is also investing in one of its better-known tourist attractions, and a major downtown business artery.
Last month the city celebrated the first completed block of its $173M revitalization project for the 16th Street Mall, a project that started in April of 2022 and will continue into 2025.
"Denver’s tourism businesses, most of which are small and locally owned, rely on these visitors to fuel their success,” Scharf added in the release, “which allows them to continue to hire employees — almost 66K across the metro area in 2023 — and to generate millions in state and local taxes.”
Overnight visitors, according to the report, totaled 20 million, a 3% rise from 2022. They also generated $8.8B in spending, a 10% increase over the prior year.
Overnight leisure visitors reportedly led that charge, rising by 5% over the prior year to a new high of 17.5 million.
As KDVR.com reported, Visit Denver reported a 15.8% decrease in overnight travel in 2020.
The new data also confirmed that Denver is a year-round tourism destination. Overnight visitation rates, it noted, are spread evenly throughout the year, with a modest surge in the warmer months.
The top four states originating overnight trips to Denver in 2023, outside of Colorado itself, were California, Texas, Kansas and Florida.
The top five cities from outside of Colorado sending overnight visitors to Denver in 2023 were Los Angeles, New York City, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
