Moving Forward in 2021

Denver CO

16 January, 2021

6:21 PM

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If you look at it long enough, data from the pandemic can be pretty jarring. From restaurants to resorts and just about everything else, business is down just about across the board.  And that stings. For every person now out of a job, for the shopkeepers who had to shutter their doors and for the grand openings that were canceled, the pain of the coronavirus pandemic is profound. Here at the South Metro Denver Chamber, with more than 700 members who represent at least 70,000 employees, we see that pain everyday.  But as we look forward to this new year, while of course there is trepidation, I’m buoyed by our region’s resilience, spirit and strength. Examples of this abound — and the hospitality, tourism and ski industry is a good place to start thinking about what can go right in 2021. At the end of 2020, our chamber hosted a virtual webinar on those three industries and how businesses and entrepreneurs in those sectors are adapting and changing amid the uncertainty of the pandemic.  “We’ve seen an enormous amount of resilience and optimism from this industry,” Melanie Mills, president and CEO of Colorado Ski Country USA, said on the webinar. “It’s in our heritage. It’s in our blood.” Open for business  Tourism and outdoor recreation, for good reason, fuel a large portion of Colorado’s economy. Entities in those fields do $25.6 billion in annual sales and combined boast payrolls with 165,600 employees, according to data in the webinar from Samantha Albert, deputy director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development & International Trade. Also, over the past decade, the amount of people employed in outdoor recreation has increased 27%. That’s a staggering amount of new jobs — which leads to a high economic multiplier effect, and more money staying in our communities. “Colorado has a really robust tourism and outdoor recreation economy,” Samantha said, citing noticeable pandemic-led upticks in people who are running, bicycling , day-hiking, bird-watching and camping. So it’s to our advantage that our region, and state, is built to cater to people looking to do all those things and more. Take the obvious: skiing. Demand for skiing, Melanie says, is “really significant,” both in the summer and now. People, says Melanie, want a place to go that’s outside where they can be with friends and family, and, notably, where “the risk is relatively low for the transmission of Covid.” That means a lot of ski passes will be sold in 2021.  Another positive development in the skiing sector, Melanie points out, is the quick shift to new technologies, such as online kiosks, and new ways of reaching customers. The skiing industry, she says, has “been slow to adapt to technology generally…but we’ve really seen an incredibly rapid adaption of technology these last several months. Between technology and outdoor recreation opportunities, Melanie — a lawyer by trade, so she can see risk coming around the corner — believes spring break will be a pandemic turning point. “We will have people out on the patio,” she said, “in the sunshine, feeling like the light is finally at the end of the tunnel.”  A final data nugget worth repeating from the webinar is that even as air travel struggles to regain its footing, Denver International Airport, remains a star. While monthly passenger traffic figures in 2020 compared to 2019 are ghastly, the data is improving since an even ghastlier April. The better news: In July and August DIA ranked No. 1 nationally in TSA for people going through security, a key metric for travel demand. The airport was No. 2 in TSA for that metric in September and October. “That’s a good indicator,” Visit Denver President and CEO Richard Scharf said on the webinar. “That will be good for us in the recovery.” Stronger together Speaking of recovery, the South Metro Denver Chamber has been in the trenches on building to a recovery since day one of the pandemic. We’ve helped members find their way through the maze of federal and state relief programs, and continue to monitor potential new programs. We’ve also held virtual panels with an array of leaders, from mayors to CEOs to school leaders and entrepreneurs so members can learn from each other and have a front-row seat to a key commodity in the pandemic: information.  And like we’ve done since the beginning, we will continue helping members navigate both the day-to-day challenges and the future of the crisis — wherever it takes us. We can, and do, accomplish that through connecting people and businesses, essential networking and promoting our partners in a variety of ways. There will be a lot more to come on that front in 2021. For now, we hope you will join us for our virtual Economic Forecast Breakfast coming up on January 29, 2021. To learn more, click below:https://youtu.be/Kwsmof970jg