Telluride Tourism Sees Growth in 2013
Mar 12, 2014
TELLURIDE – Things are looking up for Telluride’s tourism industry, according to Matt Skinner, chief operating officer of the Colorado Flights Alliance, Michael Martelon, president and CEO of the Telluride Tourism Board, and Brad Larsen, director of sales and marketing at the Telluride Ski Resort.
The three gave presentations outlining the strength of the region’s tourism economy last week during TTB’s annual meeting at the Sheridan Opera House.
More people are flying to the region, said Skinner, who oversaw an increase in 10,000 seats sold in 2013, increasing total seats sold from 54,000 to 64,000. The increase, he added, was due in large part to the addition of Allegiant Air, a low-cost airline.
But he said his work is not done – CFA was working to secure more flights from large hubs like Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago and others.
“Our continuing mission is to add airline access to the Telluride and Montrose region,” Skinner said in an interview after the presentation. “We had a solid jump in seats and traffic, and we look forward to continuing that in the next couple of years.”
While CFA increased seats and passengers, more visitors are skiing this winter season, said Larsen during his presentation, who said that skier visits are up nine percent from last year, and Telski’s lodging options are seeing a 19 percent increase in occupancy.
On top of all that, last year’s combined winter and summer tourism revenue in Telluride and Mountain Village increased by $16.4 million compared with 2012, said Martelon.
“I just report the numbers,” said Martelon during the presentation, which was packed with local realtors, business owners and elected officials. “We try to enhance the brand, but you’re responsible for that growth.”
Martelon pointed to an increase in revenues per available room, using RevPAR, a hospitality performance metric that he said reflects the overall health of the region’s tourism industry. RevPAR, he said, is calculated by multiplying a hotel’s average daily room rate by its occupancy percentage, which has been increasing in Telluride and Mountain Village since he joined TTB in 2011.
“RevPAR is one of many key metrics that we use to gauge the lodging performance in the region,” he said during the presentation. “Ultimately our organization is funded by the lodging community, so it’s imperative that we support their success. RevPAR is one way to measure that success.”
With Telluride’s improving tourism market, the towns of Telluride and Mountain Village have felt the buoyancy.
“We were 9.5 percent over what we budgeted for 2013 in sales tax revenues,” said Telluride Town Manager Greg Clifton, after the meeting, “and I think this is reflective of strong growth throughout the year, particularly during the summer months.”
Similarly, Mountain Village’s sales tax revenues are growing. The town saw an average growth of roughly 18 percent in the core winter months (Dec.-March) and summer season (June-Sept.), from 2011 through 2012 and 2012 through 2013, according to Martelon, who added March 2013 was the highest tax revenue month in Mountain Village’s history).
In addition to a healthier national economy, longstanding summer festivals that are growing in attendance and increased heritage tourism, Clifton attributes some of the town’s growth to TTB’s “remarkable” efforts to market the destination.
Last year, TTB, CFA and Telski announced a new combined marketing campaign to promote Telluride using digital media.
“The integrated approach and shared analytics between the three entities is a first [for all three of us], and I think it’s working to promote the destination,” Martelon said in an interview.
With the increase in skier visits and the town’s recovering tourism industry, Larsen implemented a survey method asking guests about their experience at the resort, another industry formula called the Net Promoter Score.
A “promoter” is a respondent that gives their experience at the resort a score of nine or ten (one being the least satisfied, ten being the most satisfied). A “passive” respondent, said Larsen, gives the resort a seven or eight, and “detractors” give the resort between a one through six.
“Our core net promoter score that our or organization looks at every day is the ‘Likelihood to Recommend’ [the resort to others] score,” said Larsen. “Our season-to-date score is now 81. This score is excellent.”
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