The tourism industry in the Pikes Peak region saw a slump – but not a catastrophic one – during the key summer season.

Though no official numbers are yet available, operators say many of the same things: Visitation was down, but not dramatically. People are still coming to Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs and Canon City, among others, but after a record-breaking year in 2024, a sluggish economy discouraged many from traveling this summer.

Within Colorado Springs, the lull in visitation can be seen in the city’s own revenue streams. Specifically, the sales and use tax and lodger’s and auto rental tax (LART). These are values closely watched by city officials as they help determine how much the city can spend when it drafts a general fund.

The latest report available from the city, reflecting spending in Colorado Springs in July, shows sales tax revenue up very slightly. But revenue collected on hotel and auto rentals is down by 1.16% year to date from the same time period last year.

The Colorado Springs Airport, meanwhile, saw a roughly 3.4% drop in passengers in July from July last year, aligning with a national trend of airports seeing a drop in demand, the airport said in a release. Just over 242,000 people traveled through the airport in July, a little over 8,000 fewer than the 250,761 seen in 2024.

On the plus side, sales tax revenue from hotel and motel stays has increased 4.4% year to date from last year. Bill Craighead, the director of the economic forum at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, said this is most likely a result of people spending on services offered by hotels, like conference space rental.

Craighead added the data shows collections on sales tax revenue is being primarily driven by residents.

“So even if we were getting slightly fewer visitors, spending growth by city residents can offset a small decline in revenue from visitors,” he said. “And with inflation, we’d expect some year-on-year revenue increases just keeping up with price increases, so these levels of increase in sales tax revenue don’t really indicate increased activity.”

One important note, Craighead said, is the city lodgers tax may not account for day visitors, who do not spend the night.

But on average, visitation in the region this summer declined by about 10%, said PK McPherson, the executive director of the Pikes Peak Region Attractions Association. Some businesses in the association reported declines as large as 15%, while others saw more modest declines of 5%, she said.

In Cripple Creek, a little more than an hour from Colorado Springs, one attraction, the donation-powered Heritage Center, saw an increase in visitation, McPherson said. Just 2 miles away, the Outlaws and Law Men Jail Museum saw a decline, she said.

The difference between the two? All of $5. The Heritage Center is free, the museum costs $5 for entry. That trend is broadly mirrored across the region, McPherson said, adding that people are more interested in saving wherever they can.

“(We’re) seeing a lot of that, the free things get a lot of people … People were still here, but definitely spending a lot less money,” she said. “Visitation on Pikes Peak in general was down .… The (Royal Gorge) Bridge was down, rafting was down, some of those more expensive things, too.”

“While we won’t have official numbers on 2025 until mid-2026, both anecdotally and through the data we do have, we are noticing that summer tourism in 2025 is down over 2024,” said Alexea Veneracion, director of communications for Visit COS, a marketing agency for the region. “Early on in 2025, we observed global indicators that this year could see a decline in tourism not just for our destination, but across the U.S.”

Indeed, international travel to the United States has dropped. From May to August 2025, foreign travel to the U.S. dropped by roughly 5%, according to data from the International Trade Administration.

But as Colorado Springs moves into the fall season, it is looking to capitalize on what is typically an “off season,” according to Veneracion.

Colorado Springs sees most visitors in the summer, accounting for close to a third of the city’s tourism economy, she said. Fall and winter account for 24% and 20%, respectively, while spring takes in the remaining 26%.

“Heading into this fall and winter, we are putting more marketing dollars into off-season campaigns,” Veneracion said. “We will launch our first winter leisure campaign in October, highlighting the destination’s off-season strengths like many days of sunshine, year-round outdoor adventure and great indoor activities like museums and the arts.”

Museums? Colorado Springs is home to 17 of them, according to the Visit COS website, and a number of others within driving distance. Outdoor adventure? Among a variety of options is the Manitou E-Bike Co. Started in 2021 by Greg Cobble and his son, the company sells and rents e-bikes.

“Our busiest year was last year. We’ve increased our online presence and that’s gotten us more exposure through reviews,” Cobble said. “We peaked last year, but this year things have fallen off for various reasons.”

He estimated his sales and visits had declined by 7-10%.

But it’s not all about bikes. The company started a golf cart tour of Manitou Springs which has been going well. But one of the bigger hits has been from the weather. Rain always has an effect on business, he said. But most of all, he thinks people pushed pause on spending at the start of the year, especially as uncertainty around the economy was high.

“People are loosening up now,” he said. “We weren’t affected by the tariffs; even though our bikes for sale are built in Asia, we saw few price increases.”

Plus the state of Colorado has an e-bike rebate of $450 for the shops, which he said is passed along to customers. But the slowest season is coming up.

Revenue in December, January and February typically “falls off a cliff,” Cobble said. But because of other tourist attractions in Manitou Springs, such as the Broadmoor Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway, he said things usually stay busy enough, though reiterated that weather affects virtually everything.

Road traffic up Pikes Peak Highway was down over the summer, according to Mackenzie Carder with Pikes Peak – America’s Mountain, the city entity responsible for running the road. A popular destination, the highway saw roughly 300,000 visitors between May and August this year.

That’s down roughly 8% from last year, Carder said.

“For us, weather was a huge factor, there were many afternoons that got rained out and the road closed for safety reasons,” she said. “Sometimes people may look at the mountain, see it covered by clouds and opt not to go, even though the highway is open and the summit is clear.”