Colorado’s tourism growth is falling behind the national average. Challenging weather patterns, from drought to wildfires, aren’t helping.
Travel spending rose 2% to $29.2 billion in Colorado in 2025 compared to the prior year, according to a new report from Dean Runyan Associates. At the same time, travel spending in the U.S. was up by 4.2%.
That travel spending directly supported 189,020 jobs in 2025, which is more than a half-percent decline from 2024.
Colorado is losing market share to other states, the report found. The state accounted for a high of 2.3% of all U.S. travel spending in 2019. Last year, that dropped to just 1.8%.
“We have been on a continuous decline,” Tim Wolfe, Colorado’s tourism director, said during a webinar for the state’s local travel groups.
The new data doesn’t capture 2026 visitation. Given the lack of snow during ski season and recent wildfires near some of the state’s tourist hubs, this year isn’t expected to look any better, according to Wolfe.
For example, this year, Ouray and Leadville’s tourism numbers are down more than 30% because of wildfires, he said.
“2026 is going to also be a tough year,” Wolfe said. “We know the mountains were down for the first quarter with some of our weather patterns … It's going to take all of us to try to make sure that we're encouraging our guests to come back and visit Colorado so that we can try to curb this trend.”
Not all of Colorado’s weakness can be blamed on snow and wildfires, since it started losing ground on the tourism front about five years ago. State officials pointed to increased competition from other states and federal policy changes, on top of the weather, as reasons for the state’s lackluster growth.
Tourism is among the state’s primary economic drivers. Travel generated roughly $1.9 billion in state and local tax revenues last year, according to Dean Runyan. That’s about $819 per Colorado household.
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