Scenic Colorado remains popular with Canadians

GREG COATES

With lots of access – including service from Air Canada (28 flights a week) and WestJet – and a range of attractions sure to please even the most finicky traveller, it’s no one wonder Colorado is so popular with Canadians.
Tourism officials from the Centennial State were recently in Toronto to update the trade on what’s new, and Andrea Blankenship, director of international tourism for the Colorado Tourism Office, took time to go over some of the numbers which help attract travellers to her state.
They include: four national parks, eight national monuments, 10 scenic and historic railroads, 26 scenic and historic byways, 30 hot springs, 42 state parks, 58 fourteeners (peaks in Colorado that rise more than 14,000 feet above sea level), 365 feet (Colorado’s tallest waterfall, Bridal Veil Falls in Telluride), 960 wildlife species, 1,500 ghost towns (remnants of Colorado’s 1800s Gold Rush days), 30 Dude and Guest Ranches and 6,000 miles of rivers (Colorado is home to the headwaters of seven major rivers).
And, if that’s not enough, Blankenship pointed out that when it comes to drink, Colorado boasts 330 working breweries (75 in Denver alone), 140 wineries and 90-plus distilleries (visitors can even partake on an adventure on the Spirits Trail).
Like Canada, Colorado is also a renowned ski destination with 28 ski areas, including Vail and Aspen Snowmass. Unlike Canada, however, officials noted that Colorado gets 300 days of sunshine a year.
“Winter kind of put Colorado on the map. We’re the number one state skiers visit, with 13 million on average over the last five years,” said Steve Strecker, director of marketing for Colorado Ski Country. “We’re the skiing Mecca of the US.”
He noted that Colorado is not just about winter, however, with all other seasons also being very attractive times to visit and many of the ski areas open to hikers and bikers.