Estes Park lodging sector anticipates solid summer

ESTES PARK – Estes Park officials say that based on early reports, bookings for the summer tourism season look strong.

“We should have a much better feel after the April numbers are in,” noted Suzy Blackhurst, communications coordinator for the Estes Park Convention and Visitors Bureau. Blackhurst said that primary advertising for destination vacations hits national publications in March and April.

“By the time the end of April comes around we’ll have a much stronger sense of what we might be looking at.”

Glenn Smith of Ponderosa Realty and Management said bookings for the houses, condos and cabins he manages in Estes Park look good. “We’re probably two-thirds booked at this point.”

Smith said he thinks 2006 will probably be a little ahead of the previous year. “Bookings are good at this point.”

Lois Smith, owner of the Baldpate Inn and president of the board of directors for the Estes Park Chamber of Commerce, said summer bookings for her property appear to be at the usual level for this time of year, while wedding bookings seem to be up.

After a period marked by controversy over whether the town government or the Estes Park Chamber of Commerce should oversee tourism and visitors services in Estes Park, officials and business owners say they look forward to putting the strife behind them.

This coming summer tourism season will be the second for which the Estes Park Convention and Visitor Bureau, which is a unit of the town government, has answered the tourism telephone line. The CVB has also offered a database and referral resource for lodging properties. In past years that has been the bailiwick of the Estes Park Chamber of Commerce.

Blackhurst said call numbers are on track with past levels. In 2005 the CVB fielded 20,236 calls. It answered 3,891 calls during the first three months of 2006; a period which included two full days with no phone service, Blackhurst said.

“We’re doing really, really well. Our numbers are incredible and they’re growing daily.”

New visitors center open

This is the first year the town will greet visitors from a brand-new visitors center. Estes Park celebrated the grand opening of a new, 9,000-square-foot visitors center at 500 Big Thompson Ave. with a ceremony on April 7.

Built at a cost of $1.275 million, the center replaces the former 3,500-square-foot center. The new building offers an expansive lobby, attached restrooms and a sweeping western view. “The whole building is really pretty cool,” Blackhurst notes.

Between January and early April this year, more than 9,000 people have stopped by the Estes Park visitors center, Blackhurst said. The new building, which opened its doors on March 15, saw 1,049 visitors in the first four days of April.

Meanwhile, the 2006 Estes Park visitors guide, a 52-page magazine, “has not only been accepted for distribution through Colorado Welcome Centers, but it is required that they carry them. That tells us the state thinks it’s pretty good,” she said.

Business owners and tourism officials in Estes Park say that even without the conflict between town and chamber, Estes Park has faced challenges to filling rooms in recent years, ranging from the shift in travel patterns sparked by the events of Sept. 11, 2001, to a dicey economy, bad weather and forest fires.

Chamber President Smith said the town is also competing against the well-financed corporate entities that represent Colorado’s ski towns.

“We really didn’t have a lot of competition for summer business before the last 10 years. At some point Ski Colorado woke up and said ‘Hey, we can do summer, too.'”

She sees new opportunities for the town to market itself.

“Heritage tourism is a trend,” Smith said. “People are looking for communities with history. That is something Estes Park is so rich in … Can we capitalize on that? I think that’s our challenge.”

While the chamber is now focusing more attention on business-to-business efforts in Estes Park it continues to offer its longstanding lodging database and referral service.

“We’re refocusing ourselves perhaps a little bit more on business to business, while trying to maintain our visitor marketing and guest services at the same time,” Smith said.

Encouraging Front Range visitors is another area where Estes Park hopes to find increased interest by educating its neighbors about what the town offers.

“We love those destination travelers,” Blackhurst said, “but we also like our Front Range visitors. We do what we can to maximize interest in this community and this playground and what you can do here.”

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