Breckenridge Tourist Office / Image courtesy of
As Breckenridge continues through a busy week of spring break travelers, experts expect the excitement toward travel to continue throughout spring and into summer.
“We’re operating in February, March and winter as a whole – roughly – 17% off (last year’s accommodation bookings), which was a low year,” Lucy Kay, head of the Breckenridge Tourist Office, told Breckenridge City Council on Tuesday, March 8. “We are pretty much stable with winter (2019-2020), which was the last normal winter.”
Kay also said that Breckenridge’s peak week will be this week – from Saturday 12 March to Saturday 19 March.
“We’re at about 90% or most of those days, which is normal,” Kay added. “April is a lot ahead of last year because of where Easter falls and with the extended summer season. Summer bookings look good. We don’t have a full season on the books yet, but groups are back.”
According to the latest data from destination analystsa tourism data research firm, 74% of more than 1,200 respondents from across the US said they would be “excited” if a close friend invited them over on the weekend.
In the latest presentation of findings regarding the impact of COVID-19 on US travel, David Bratton, founder and managing director of Destination Analysts, said the travelers surveyed are looking to travel in 2022. However, COVID-19 concerns remain prevalent.
“The most important finding this week is that the enthusiasm for travel is really high,” Bratton said. “Many of our tracking metrics are up to or close to the records we saw last summer, but personal health concerns are still a huge problem. With all the fun we’re having there, you don’t think travelers aren’t worried about the virus.”
The most recent survey also showed that 56.6% of respondents showed some type of concern about the current trends of coronavirus and contracting the virus themselves. The highest percentage of survey respondents – 18.9% – said their concerns were at 5 on a scale of 1 to 10. Despite the concerns, the majority of travelers surveyed by destination analysts said they believed the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic would improve over the next month . The results showed that 40% said they believed it would not worsen or improve, and nearly 70% said it was important or very important to them that their travel destinations continue to maintain COVID-19 safety protocols and practices.
Kaye said Denver is now the third most popular airport in the world, mainly due to local travelers, which could boost tourism in Summit County as well.
“Half (travelers) say they will not travel internationally because of what is happening (in Europe regarding the conflict in Ukraine), which is good for the domestic market,” Kay said. Interestingly, 70% of them still want to see COVID protocols in place, which is surprising. I thought that was really high.”
With summer approaching, she added, higher gas prices will affect travelers in the coming months. In recent days, gas prices in Colorado are approaching and exceeding $4 a gallon. With changes in inflation and future capital projects taking place in the summer, Kay said the tourism office’s summer plan is currently volatile.
In February, the board met and discussed the increase in traffic and parking concerns that occurred during the 2022 International Snow Sculpting Championships. More than 14,000 people signed up for the event in advance and city officials said 93,627 cars drove through Breckenridge during the week.
“Given all the changes, what (the tourism office) is doing now is we go in (and) reconvene the Marketing Committee meeting, and then at the board meeting later this month, we will reassess our summer plan,” Kay said. Light of the conversation from the last board meeting – considering what’s going to happen with the construction and traffic, and thinking about how we tweak our messaging a little more – (we’re making sure) we get things done before arriving and that the lodges are on board to work with us on that piece. Now with everything that’s happening in Europe, we’re really looking at what’s going to help with marketing.”
