Tourism

Private Soak at the Infinity Pool

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by Cailey McDermott There are roughly 28 public hot springs in Colorado. Mount Princeton in Nathrop touts five different soaking styles — the newest is the infinity pool.  In addition to the public soaking, the infinity pool is open to private soaking experiences. You can reserve the entire pool for a romantic date, for a …

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A Rebirth?

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By Mike Rosso May is my favorite month in Colorado. The creeks and rivers begin to swell. The trees are blooming and leaf outing and we can finally open our windows and let the fresh air in. Plus, no more messing about with kindling and ash. The temperature in my home naturally hovers between 66-68 …

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A Growing Tourist Town

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By Mike Rosso We are currently experiencing the “shoulder season” here in Salida. The ski area closed this past weekend after record amounts of snow and visitors. I’ve not spoken to many downtown business owners about how the season went, but winter does have a way of separating the “wheat from the chaff” as we’ve …

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Central Colorado Gems: Chaffee County’s Heritage Area and Collegiate Peaks Scenic Byway

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by Alan Robinson- Chaffee County Heritage Area Advisory Board member

Concern for preserving “heritage resources” (the collective natural, cultural, historic and scenic features which define an area’s sense of place) in Chaffee County took a front seat in 2004 when its county commissioners ambitiously declared the whole county a heritage area. They also appointed an 11-member Advisory Board representing public land managers, historical societies, towns, ranchers, local nature associations and the general public, and charged us not only with identifying heritage, but with educating our fellow citizens about its value in social, ecological and economic terms, and with planning how heritage can be managed to preserve and perpetuate those values. Board members volunteer their services but, recognizing future administrative and technical services, the commissioners also appointed non-profit Greater Arkansas River Nature Association (GARNA, www.garna.org) and its director as the board’s executive arm.

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Europeans continue to visit Yellowstone

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Brief by Allen Best

Tourism – September 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

Gas prices reached record highs in June. Yet at Yellowstone, the quintessential drive-by national park, visitation reached a record high. What’s going on?

Jonathan Schechter, an economics columnist in the Jackson Hole News & Guide, said there may be an easy explanation for this seeming anomaly: international visitors. Because park officials don’t track the nationalities of visitors, there’s no way to know for sure, he says, but anecdotal evidence points firmly toward that as an explanation.

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Guten Tag, Buenos Días, Bon Jour …

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Brief by Central Staff

Tourism – July 2008 – Colorado Central Magazine

If you work around tourists in Central Colorado, you might want to brush up on your high-school German, Spanish, French, or Italian, as merchants tell us that we’re seeing quite a few more foreign tourists this year, most of them from Europe.

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Yes, we are all tourons

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Essay by Patrick Hannigan

Tourism – August 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

“How far is it to Harts Pass?” a tourist couple once asked me. I told them it was about 20 miles. “How far is it back?” they asked.

That natural selection has not rendered tourists extinct seems a mystery that defies evolution. And if you believe God created tourists, you’ve probably wondered, “What was He or She thinking?”

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The economics of 14ers

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Brief by Central Staff

Tourism – May 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

If everyone took federal law seriously, the United States would have gone metric about 20 years ago, and there would be no such thing as a 14er. In meters, those 54 Colorado peaks whose summits exceed 14,000 feet above sea level would be 4,267ers, and that’s not the stuff of lore.

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Save Snippy, save the world?

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Article by Marcia Darnell

Tourism – February 2007 – Colorado Central Magazine

THE ’60S ARE REMEMBERED in the U.S. as a time of turbulence, of war and protest, of free love and hippies. When people think of the ’60s they recall love beads and incense, the Beatles and tie-dye, sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll.

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Big fire? Big deal

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Article by Marcia Darnell

Tourism – August 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

MAYBE COLORADANS have become jaded. Maybe we put implicit trust in smoke jumpers. Or maybe it’s just a pervasive case of denial-itis. Whatever the cause, the Mato Vega fire in June caused little disruption to the money flow in the eastern San Luis Valley.

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Breckenridge wants to focus on history

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Brief by Allen Best

Tourism – June 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

Breckenridge, as a modern tourist resort, has always taken pride in its history as a gold-mining town dating to 1859. The town continues to work toward leveraging that legacy into the lucrative market of cultural and heritage tourism.

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Where Coloradans want to go

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Brief by Central Staff

Tourism – December 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

The Colorado office of the AAA Auto Club (used to be the American Automobile Association, but everybody called it “Triple A”) maintains a website to help members find the best routes, rooms, and the like. The club also keeps track of the places that get the most inquiries.

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Heritage tourists spend more, study says

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Brief by Central Staff

Tourism – December 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

For the past couple of years, Chaffee County has been promoting itself as the “Headwaters of Adventure” for tourists. But the local tourist industry might make more money with another catchphrase, one that promotes “Heritage Tourism” rather than “Adventure Tourism.”

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Great days with the bikers

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Letter from Monty Holmes

Tourism – July 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine

Editors:

Well, there were thousands of bikers around this Valley on Memorial Day weekend, and we thank them for visiting! There were so many places (especially with 360º views from a motorcycle) of exceptional beauty, that they were spread out all over the area. And darn nice folks they were!

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Yet another Royal Gorge war

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Brief by Central Staff

Tourism – November 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

Generally, we think of the “Royal Gorge War” as something that happened a long time ago — specifically, in 1879 when two railroads were battling in court and on the ground for the right to lay tracks in “the Grand Canyon of the Arkansas,” a defile so narrow that there was room for only one set of tracks.

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Getting Branded

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Essay by Ed Quillen

Tourism – August 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

ONE BENEFIT of the commercial dialect of modern American English is that it often consists of a string of buzzwords, and all you have to do to sound plausible, perhaps even intelligent, is string a few of them together: “Our commitment to diversity and sustainability is a vital component of our strategic visioning …”

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A real work-out for travelers

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Brief by Central Staff

Tourism – June 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

Salida was named one of “the 48 Best Multi-Sport Towns You Can Drive To” in the June edition of Hooked on the Outdoors, “The Original Backyard Travel & Gear Magazine.”

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Visits down at San Dunes

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Brief by Central Staff

Tourism – December 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine

We often hear that tourism was off last summer, and now we’ve got confirmation from some official U.S. government statistics.

As of the end of October, only 227,648 visitors had entered Great Sand Dunes National Monument. For the same period in 2001, there were 269,634 admissions.

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There’s no such thing as bad publicity

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Brief by Central Staff

Tourism – May 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine

A wise outside observer would probably conclude that in little mountain towns, our main political talent is fighting with each other.

Seldom do these squabbles go further than the local newspaper, but Georgetown was an exception during March and early April.

The old silver mining camp, which sits on Interstate 70 about 50 miles west of Denver, got some national attention — as in Newsweek and Jay Leno — on account of a recall election directed at Koleen Brooks, the mayor.

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New Factory Towns?

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Brief by Central Staff

Tourism – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

We were talking to someone from a neighboring town recently, who said he liked everything about Salida except that it had too many festivals: FIBArk, then Artwalk, then the Fourth, then the Brewers Rendezvous …

Well, at least it hasn’t reached the level of Telluride, where there’s a bluegrass festival, a film festival, a mushroom festival — indeed, so many festivals that they have even set aside a “no-festival weekend.”

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Sacrifice Zone expected to import more workers

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Brief by Central Staff

Tourism – August 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

The projected employment figures for the Sacrifice Zone are almost frightening.

According to the demographics division of the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, in 2020 the resort businesses in Eagle, Summit, and Pitkin counties will need 63,000 more workers than their resident labor pools can provide.

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‘No Vacancy’ signs get a workout in July

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Brief by Central Staff

Tourism – July 2001 – Colorado Central Magazin

If you’re looking for a motel room in Chaffee County, July is when you’ll have to look the hardest, because that’s when room occupancy peaks — 86.3% last year, and 91.6% in 1999.

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Speculating about our gasoline future

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Brief by Central Staff

Tourism – June 2001 – Colorado Central Magazine

Since most of our tourists arrive by auto, and gasoline prices are high, what’s that mean for summer business in Central Colorado and the San Luis Valley?

The short answer is that no one knows, although it’s fun to speculate:

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Creede residents vote against a tourist train

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Brief by Central Staff

Tourism – June 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

Many mountain towns would be eager to get another 400 visitors a day, but Creede isn’t one of them.

The visitors would arrive by rail on the 21-mile line from South Fork to Creede, which the Durango-based Denver & Rio Grande Historical Foundation plans to purchase from the Union Pacific this summer. Freight service ended in 1985 when the last of Creede’s mines closed.

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Can Lake County afford to wait while they fix the pass?

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Brief by Central Staff

Tourism – December 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine

Independence Pass, which connects Leadville to Aspen via Balltown and Twin Lakes, is the highest paved crossing of the Continental Divide in the United States at 12,095 feet.

The road, also known as Colo. 82, is a popular tourist route that puts people and money into the town of Twin Lakes when it’s open — generally from Memorial Day to the first part of October. It hasn’t been kept open in the winter since 1886, because the railroad reached Aspen the next year.

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It’s down at the end of Harrison Street: Hearbreak Hotel?

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Brief by Central Staff

Tourism – November 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine

On account of its altitude and climate, Leadville celebrates St. Patrick’s Day about six months earlier (or later) than the rest of the world does.

That is, the Irish are honored on March 17 everywhere else, but Leadville holds St. Patrick’s Practice Day on the weekend closest to Sept. 17 — six months away, and generally a better day for a parade in the Cloud City than March 17 (although Leadville also celebrates the original holiday).

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More tales from the Stupid Zone

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Essay by Lynda La Rocca

Tourism – November 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine

THE CURMUDGEON IS BACK! And after enduring another tourist season in the “Stupid Zone,” I’m crankier than ever.

Regular Colorado Central readers already know that a Stupid Zone, a phrase coined by none other than this magazine’s publisher, is a place where the misguided and denial-prone insist on putting down roots (i.e., in avalanche chutes, on crumbling hillsides, within toe-dipping distance of the ocean, next to international airports), only to spend the rest of their lives whining about the adverse conditions that define these sites (i.e., snowslides, mud slides, floods, noise).

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Tourism and Community Identity

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Brief by Central Staff

Tourism – April 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine

Tourism and Community Identity

Can a town retain its identity after industrial tourism arrives?

A 16-page article in the Winter 1998 edition of Montana: The Magazine of Western History examines Colorado’s Steamboat Springs and its struggles through the years. The article, “Powder Aplenty for Native and Guest Alike: Steamboat Springs, Corporate Control, and the Changing Meaning of Home,” was written by Nevada historian Hal K. Rothman.

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Reader’s Digest encourages you to visit Nathrop

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Brief by Central Staff

Tourism – November 1998 – Colorado Central Magazine

Reader’s Digest encourages you to visit Nathrop

We just learned that we’re on one of The Most Scenic Drives in America, as proclaimed in a book of that name issued by Reader’s Digest Association last year.

Salida and Nathrop (Buena Vista just misses) are on the “Colorado Springs Loop” which starts in the Springs, of course, goes to Cripple Creek from Divide, back up past the Fossil Beds to Florissant, and across South Park to traverse Trout Creek Pass.

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Sometimes you can’t help asking stupid questions

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Essay by Columbine Quillen

Tourism – November 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine

Although I had been surrounded by it for most of my life, last summer I finally got a taste of the whitewater rafting business. That’s when I worked for Colorado Whitewater Photography — where my job involved going to various rafting companies to sell their clients pictures of their once-in-a-lifetime whitewater adventure.

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Confessions of a Survivor of Stupid-Question season

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Essay by Shelley Jacobs

Tourism – November 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine

This portion of Central Colorado seems to have four seasons: Rafting Season, Hunting Season, Ski Season, and Mud Season. Now that the Rafting Season (subheading: Mountain biking, Hiking, Fishing, Doing-the-rustic-backwoods- mountain-thing Season) is over, and now that most of those generous vacationers have returned to their own communities to work hard so that they can make enough money for their next vacation, we can talk frankly about them.

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Interstate 70’s swath continues to expand

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Essay by Ed Quillen

Tourism industry – February 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine

One of the inspirations for starting this magazine occurred several years ago on a snowy afternoon while I was sitting in a saloon in Buena Vista, enjoying the view out its big window until a Copper Mountain bus pulled up and disgorged a dozen or so people.

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Overwhelmed in Alaska

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Brief by Central Staff

Tourism – November 1995 – Colorado Central Magazine

The feeling that your town is being overwhelmed by tourists is not unique to Central Colorado. National Public Radio recently carried a report from Juneau, Alaska, a popular destination for cruise ships. On a summer day, the city’s 30,000 people can be joined by 10,000 visitors fresh off the boat.

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Santa Fé Blues

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Brief by Central Staff

Tourism – October 1995 – Colorado Central Magazine

Is the crash coming? Pinched tourist flows and declining real-estate prices?

What goes up must go down, and a recent New York Times story about Santa Fé indicates that the city may have already hit the top of this cycle, with a downward slide before it.

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You can’t run and you can’t hide

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Essay by Ed Quillen

Tourism – August 1995 – Colorado Central Magazine

This past June was pretty dismal — literally so, because sunshine was a rare novelty, rather than a customary blessing. Looming dark clouds dropped moisture constantly in every known form: rain, sleet, hail, snow. Some streams jumped their banks, and if hot weather had arrived to dissolve the record snowpacks, we could have suffered some devastating floods.

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Increased Tourist Flow Scenic Byway

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Brief by Central Staff

Tourism – June 1995 – Colorado Central Magazine

Even though it often appears that Colorado cares only about its interstate highways and adjacent sacrifice zones, that’s not quite true. Among Colorado’s roads now are 21 Scenic and Historic Byways, selected by a commission named by Governor Roy Romer in 1989.

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Resort summit produces no magic

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Article by Allen Best

Tourism – March 1995 – Colorado Central Magazine

Did you think that 150 people from five counties were going to get together and solve all our resort ills in a day? Don’t expect magic out of the five-county resort summit held at Beaver Creek last December. Any white rabbits delivered from this process will be labored, and unlike fecund rabbits, slow to arrive and in a small litter.

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