Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Mountain Towns

Colorado Mountain Towns Feel Economic Pain After Historic Dry Winter
Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Mountain Towns Feel Economic Pain After Historic Dry Winter

By Bernadette Berdychowski | Colorado Politics Rocky, snow‑starved slopes. Rivers rising too soon. Resorts shutting down in April. Drought rules spreading statewide. These aren’t just signs of a bad winter — they’re red flags. And now another one is flashing across the Rockies: falling sales‑tax revenues that threaten the budgets and stability of mountain towns already stretched thin. Sales‑tax revenues — a key measure of local spending and a major source of city funding — dropped across many Colorado mountain towns in the first months of the year, largely because the unusually dry winter kept visitors away. In December, some towns saw only slight declines or even small gains. In Breckenridge, businesses said tourists who had already booked their trips an...
Ski Town at a Standstill as Labor Dispute Shuts Down Telluride Slopes
New York Times, Approved, Local

Ski Town at a Standstill as Labor Dispute Shuts Down Telluride Slopes

By Jack Healy | The New York Times Now, vacationers looking to ski are wondering what to do and merchants are hoping it doesn’t last. The ski runs above the mountain town of Telluride, Colo., sat eerily empty on Saturday. Chair lifts hung as motionless as icicles. Tourists slumped beside outdoor fire pits, trying not to think about the money they had spent on ski vacations now upended by a labor dispute. “This is the first time I’ve seen snow in six years,” Alexander Caro, 23, who flew in from Miami with his family, said as he looked hungrily at the base of the ski mountain, now blocked off by “closed” signs. A few feet away, a golden Labrador retriever played fetch in the snow beside the resort’s shuttered main lift. It was the closest anyone would ge...
Small Colorado Town Turns Tragedy Into Triumph After Fire
DENVER7, Approved, Local

Small Colorado Town Turns Tragedy Into Triumph After Fire

By Russell Haythorn | Denver7 GoFundMe nears $200K as Nederland comes together in wake of Caribou Village Shopping Center fire. NEDERLAND, Colo. — It’s been a tough week for the small mountain town of Nederland, but amid the ashes, hope is taking root. The Caribou Village Shopping Center fire has destroyed more than 30% of the town’s businesses, but now, neighbors, local businesses, and volunteers are coming together to help turn heartbreak into action. Nederland is the kind of place where neighbors feel more like family, said Dan Vollmer, a local realtor with Berkshire Hathaway who launched a GoFundMe campaign for the town. “I’ve been up here a handful of years," Vollmer said. "You really start to call this place home after about two." As the fir...
Colorado Tourism Growth Pulls Back with Booking Dips and Flat Spending
State, Approved, The Colorado Sun

Colorado Tourism Growth Pulls Back with Booking Dips and Flat Spending

By Jason Blevins | The Colorado Sun Colorado hosted 95.4 million visitors who spent $28.4 billion in 2024, an increase largely from day-trippers. The state is worrying about a decline in international visitors who stay longer, spend more. After several years of record-setting traffic, it appears Colorado’s Western Slope tourism economy has hit a plateau. Some communities are even reporting declines in visitor traffic and spending, marking the first slowdown since the pandemic. State tourism officials started warning a softening tourism market last year as vacationer traffic into the state ebbed. Last year Colorado hosted 95.4 million visitors who spent $28.4 billion. That’s up 2.1 million visitors from the crowd that spent $28.3 billion in 2023. Most of that increase in visits las...

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