Travel: Denver launches winter tourism bid

Posted on November 20, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Denver’s zoo lights are a highlight of a winter visit to the Mile High City. Photo courtesy Denver Zoo.

Marketing campaign, hotel, restaurant deals aimed at boosting visits during slow season

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Along with residents of Albuquerque, Rapid City and Amarillo, Summit County locals will be wooed to visit Dener with $1 million ad blitz aimed at drawing tourists to the Mile High City during the heart of the winter season.

Alongside tourism and business officials, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock announced the Mile High Holidays campaign at a press conference at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center. The campaign is a collaborative marketing program to increase the overall number of visitors to Denver in the traditionally slow period of November through January.

“Of course the holidays are a magical time of year, but they are also a critical time for many businesses in Denver,” Hancock said. “The Mile High Holidays campaign continues the City’s commitment to supporting and growing our local businesses by partnering with shopping districts and businesses to sell all of Denver to out-of-town visitors.” (more…)

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Colorado: Another record year for tourism?

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

International numbers strong through August: Colorado benefits from growth in international travel

Tourists and locals enjoy a concert at the Viktualienmarkt in Munich, Germany.

By Bob Berwyn

FRISCO — Global tourism grew by a healthy 4 percent between January and August 2012 compared to the same period the previous year, according to the latest figures from the United Nations World Tourism Organization, which estimated about 705 million international arrivals during that span.

Based on those numbers, the global tourism market is still on pace to surpass 1 billion arrivals for the first time ever, and Colorado appears to have benefited from the industry’s strength.

“International numbers were up throughout the state … some reports indicate international visits were up as much as 30 percent,” said Al White, director of the Colorado Tourism Office. “This was due to a variety of reasons; a weak dollar versus most international currencies, as well as an increased effort on the part of the Administration to reduce obstacles to entry.  Visa interview wait times were decreased dramatically in Brazil, China, and Russia,” White said. (more…)

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Colorado Mountain Express says it’s happy with propane-fueled vans, may add more alt-fuel vehicles to mountain fleet

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Colorado Mountain Express says happy with tests of propane autogas-fueled vans. Photo courtesy CME.

Lower costs and reduced emissions help drive shift to gas-fueled passenger vehicles

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — If you’ve taken a ride to or from DIA recently in a Colorado Mountain Express van, there’s a chance you were aboard one of the four vehicles powered by propane, a relatively clean-burning fossil fuel that generates less greenhouse gas emissions.

CME, which operates about 200 vans in Colorado, has been testing the propane-powered vans recently and may add more of the vehicles to its fleet, especially if the refueling infrastructure grows in coming years, according to marketing and sales director John Dawsey. (more…)

Filed under: air quality, business, Colorado, energy, Environment, I-70, Technology, tourism, transportation | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

CDOT launches smart phone app for I-70

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

A map page on the smart phone I-70 app shows your exact location along the corridor.

Travel times, delays and more info aims to ease the ski-traffic crunch

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Stakeholders along the I-70 corridor are hoping to ease ski traffic with a combination of measures, including better communication with travelers, and a new smart phone app could be one piece of that puzzle.

The Colorado Department of Transportation says the new CDOT Mobile app  will make critical information such as highway conditions and traffic information more accessible, dynamic and interactive.

CDOT Mobile will enable users to make better decisions about travel mode and route, resulting in a more productive, safe and efficient transportation system. (more…)

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Global tourist visits on track to pass 1-billion mark

Posted on September 23, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Tourists and locals throng the Viktualienmarkt in Munich, Germany.

WTO reports record numbers for first half of 2012

By Summit Voice

FRISCO — Travelers from some of the world’s biggest countries helped spur global tourism to a new record level during the first half of 2012, keeping the industry on track to pass the 1-billion mark for the first time this year.

Through the end of June, the World Tourism Organization tallied 467 million tourist visits worldwide, a 5 percent increase from the same period last year. Economic uncertainties may slow growth the rest of the year, but international arrivals are still forecast to exceed 1 billion by the end of 2012.

Economic powerhouses China (plus 30 percent), the Russian Federation (up 15 percent), the USA (plus 9 percent), Germany (plus 6 percent) and Canada (up 6 percent) led the way in terms of outbound markets. Japan showed an 8 percent increase in spending on overseas tourism, a sign of recovery in an important market. (more…)

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Travel: Tourist visits to U.S. up 10 percent this summer

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Efforts to speed visa-processing paying off; tourism industry touts job-growth potential

Western outdoor destinations play an important role in the national tourism equation.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — International tourism to the U.S. surged during the summer travel season, with the number of visitors increasing 10 percent from the previous year and revenues also climbing.

In a new report issued this week, the White House is at least partly crediting the administration’s travel and tourism policy, which set very specific goals for visa processing and other measures to help boost travel to the U.S.

As a result of the policies, visa wait times in Brazil and China have been cut dramatically, from 140 days down to an average of two days in Brazil, according to the report. (more…)

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Morning photo: Postcards to myself …

Posted on August 22, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Note to self: Travel again — soon!

On the approach to Frankfurt we flow low over the Rhine River. The river figures big in Teutonic mythology, and the morning mist hugging the gorge was a nice touch for our arrival.

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — I love taking pictures and telling stories, but ultimately, many of the images are really most valuable as personal mementos of journeys and adventures I’ve shared with my loved ones. This most recent trip was no exception. Many of the pictures will never be published anywhere, but cherished all the more for the personal moments they reflect. But others are fun and help interpret the places we visit, along with evoking emotions every time I look at them. To me, there’s almost nothing better than the anticipation, after a long flight, of setting foot in a new place, even if it’s a place where I lived for many years and where I have family history. The picture above brings back the tingly feeling of starting a new journey. (more…)

Filed under: Austria, Europe, Morning photo, photography, tourism, Travel | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Global tourism revenues hit $1 trillion mark in 2011

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

2012 starts strong; international tourism arrivals up 5.7 percent over 2011

Tourists gather at a summer music festival at Copper Mountain, Colorado.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Global tourism growth continued to outpace most other economic sectors during the first two months of 2012, with international tourist arrivals up 5.7 percent over the same period in 2011, according to the World Tourism Organization’s World Tourism Barometer.

The WTO also said that international annual tourism revenues passed the $1 trillion mark for the first time in 2011. Overall, 2011 global tourism receipts grew by 3.8 percent from the previous year, along with a 4.6 percent increase in tourism arrivals worldwide.

Tourism revenues continued to recover from the losses suffered in 2009 and hit new records in many destinations, reaching a total of $1.03 trillion. The biggest growth was in the Americans, at 5.7 percent, followed by Europe (5.2 percent), Asia and the Pacific (4.3 percent) and Africa (2.2 percent). (more…)

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Colorado tourism showed strength in 2011

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Market share and tourism spending increase

Colorado’s share of the U.S. tourism market grew again slightly in 2011.

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — Scrapping against rivals with much larger marketing budgets, Colorado has managed to regain most of the tourism business it lost when state leaders cut funding some 20 years ago.

The fact that it took nearly two decades to make that comeback shows the importance of sustained funding, said Colorado Tourism Office director Al White, after announcing the results of the Colorado tourism report for 2011.

When the state stopped funding marketing efforts, Colorado’s national share of those so-called marketable trips dropped from 2.7 percent to 1.8 percent in just four years. It took until this year to reach that same level again, White said. (more…)

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Morning photo: Wild west

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Wide open spaces …

Sunset in Palisade, Colorado.

Photos by Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — I pulled together today’s photo essay as I was preparing for the popular Twitter #Expchat, a weekly forum for sharing travel information. I was struck by one thing: In all the thousands of tweets relating to travel in the West, not a single one mentioned shopping, nor did anyone say they wanted to visit Colorado and the West to look at gas drilling rigs. That’s not really a surprise. It’s the region’s wide open and protected spaces that are the real draw, and lawmakers, policy makers and other involved in developing management policies for these lands should take heed. (more…)

Filed under: camping, Colorado, I-70, Morning photo, photography, recreation, tourism, Travel, West | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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