Marijuana businesses have long proclaimed that cannabis is drawing visitors to Colorado. Now they have proof.
In 2015 a research firm hired by the Colorado Tourism Office surveyed the state’s visitors and found that legal marijuana influenced vacation decisions for nearly half of the state’s visitors. Legal weed is a growing motivator for trips to Colorado. Results of the study are contradict with the mantra of tourism officials statewide that savvy marketing alone is responsible for record visitation and spending in the past two years. Marijuana supporters heralded the report as proof that legal weed is a major player in the state’s $19 billion tourism economy.

In the survey, 64 percent of tourists over the age of 25 reported legal marijuana played no role in their decision to visit the state. About 14 percent of travelers called selling of weed a negative influence but came to Colorado anyway. The remaining 23 percent of people who visited Colorado in 2015 said the availability of marijuana positively influenced their decision to vacation in the state.

Not surprisingly, interest in legal weed was higher among younger visitors. For travelers 55 and older, for example, 22 percent said marijuana sales made them less interested in visiting the state and 75 percent said marijuana had no influence on their decision to visit, comprising 97 percent of that age group. But among travelers between the ages of 25 and 34, 66 percent said marijuana sales either played no role or negatively influenced their decision to visit, while 33 percent said weed was one of the reasons they vacationed in Colorado.

The number of vacationers who said they came to Colorado because of legal marijuana sales was 11 percent, and among that group 39 percent said they visited a dispensary.

That leaves about 4 percent of Colorado’s 25-and-up vacationers saying they came for the weed and actually shopped for cannabis.

“I think definitely the laws are having an influence when people are considering Colorado. We can see that it’s still not a large percentage in terms of what people are doing, but it’s become more of a motivator for those who want to do it,” said Denise Miller, director of tourism surveys for Strategic Marketing and Research Insights, or SMARI, as she presented the midyear update to the tourism office’s board of directors. “It’s certainly having some influence — both, I think, positive and negative — on that decision process.”

SMARI conducted 33-question surveys of 3,254 tourists from target markets in Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, San Diego, St. Louis and other cities. About 10 percent of those surveyed had vacationed in Colorado between April and September.

Still, tax revenue from marijuana continues to climb for cities big and small. Medical and recreational marijuana sales in Colorado are expected to top $1 billion this year, filling municipal coffers. Denver, with the extensive network of marijuana stores, harvested $29 million in sales taxes and licensing fees in 2015.

A midsummer study by the Colorado Department of Revenue in 2014 showed out-of-state visitors account for half the marijuana sales in Denver and 90 percent in mountain communities. Statewide, tourists account for about 7 percent of marijuana demand, which the study estimated at 130.3 metric tons.
This story was first published on DenverPost.com