“We have had record visitation steadily increasing since 2015,” said Dolores Davis with Garden of the Gods Visitor and Nature Center. Only the start of the 2019 tourism is a threat to the streak. It was warm on Tuesday in Southern Colorado, but unusually cool temperatures through May caused a dip in local tourism numbers.
Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak are the two most visited spots in Colorado Springs. Both saw a year to year visitor decrease for the months of May. “We definitely think the weather has effected visitation,” said Davis, “For the same time period last year we are down about two to three percent.”At Pikes Peak Highway the number of visitors for May 2018 was 55,569 this year there is a decrease of nearly 5,000.
The decrease is more intrigue than concern. The are so many people showing up on warm days another record year is still possible. “With the nice weather coming and summer arriving, I think we can make that up pretty quickly.”
