The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Gas and fuel prices could impact summer visits
By Mark Reaman
To no one’s surprise, the numbers are coming in, and it appears tourism visitation to the valley was down this past ski season. The lack of snow kept people away from the ski resort and that translated to a decrease in bus ridership as well.
The situation was discussed at the April Gunnison Valley Regional Transit Authority board meeting. Tourism and Prosperity Partnership (TAPP) executive director Andrew Sandstrom said while air traffic into Gunnison was relatively flat year-over-year, February and March visitation was definitely impacted negatively compared to 2025 by the low snow year situation.
“Location-based cell phone data indicated that winter saw a decline of 7 to 10% of visitors in the valley. Early indications from lodging tax collections show February was down 10-15% while March was off 15-20%,” he relayed to the board. “Paid visitors staying in lodging saw the biggest declines, so we really saw a decline in tourist visitors. People with second homes and their friends and family still came and that probably helped with air numbers.”
Sandstrom said final tracking numbers are not all in. He said that while Vail Resorts does not release specific visitor numbers, it is his reading of the situation that Crested Butte is probably “less down than some of the other Vail Resorts this winter.”
Sandstrom said the warm temperatures and lack of snow might be helping the next tourist season. “On a positive note, we are beginning to see late spring and early summer have a slight upward trend as things open up earlier,” he said. “Summer will ultimately depend on a number of factors such as smoke conditions. Fire, even if in other places, could deter visitors. We are already marketing summer and are pushing gravel biking in the South Valley and we will then move to overall mountain biking.”
Sandstrom said that as the valley tourism market shifted in recent years to include a large number of Front Range visitors, in-the-moment conditions come more into play than with destination tourists. “Travelers from the Front Range of Colorado pay attention to current conditions (such as lack of snow) and are also more price sensitive,” he explained. “So, increasing gas prices may impact Front Range decisions this summer.”
Increasing gas prices will likely have an impact not just on the drive market but also on those deciding whether to fly into Gunnison.
“These increasing fuel prices have been a supply shock to the airline systems,” added RTA air consultant Bill Tomcich. “Fares are definitely coming up from what we’ve enjoyed here the last few years. Now is probably the time to lock in fares as chances are better they will go up more than they will go down. You can always keep an eye on the prices and reprice the ticket if they go down.”
“Prices aren’t just going up in Gunnison. They are going up everywhere so people won’t be heading to Denver for cheaper tickets,” said RTA executive director Scott Truex. “The price differential between a ticket in Gunnison and one in Denver is still pretty much the same.”
Tomcich recapped that winter flights have been steady. He said passenger numbers for January were down about 2%, February was up .5% and March looks to be flat. “Spring is looking better primarily due to locals traveling out of GUC. Spring numbers are smaller than winter, but April is up 10%, May is pacing up 21% and June is trending up 5%,” he said. “The feeling is that there is a pent-up demand for people to get to Colorado, so summer is looking to see an increase over 2025.”
He said that the Minimum Revenue Guarantees (MRGs) for the United flights out of Chicago and Houston will most likely be fully called in. That would total about $500,000 for the two markets. “But United is not at all disappointed with the routes,” he said. “They are pleased with the resilience of this market even with a low snow season. We are likely to see similar caps next year and I am expecting an increase in the number of flights coming into Gunnison from Chicago. They also appear to want daily service out of Houston next season.”
Tomcich said the increase in summer season flights will start in June with United, American and JSX. Those are expected to keep flying into September and October. “We will have a lot of seats to fill this coming summer,” he said.
As for valley-wide bus ridership, Truex reported that February ridership was down 20% and the first 26 days of March showed a similar 19.7% decline. That decrease has been attributed in the past to fewer people riding the bus from Gunnison to ski at CBMR and a decline in work that kept employees living in Gunnison from needing to ride the bus.
Truex said a flurry of new coaches are arriving to replace and bolster the RTA fleet. The spring/summer/fall schedule with 31 daily roundtrips has started. He also told the board the RTA and CDOT are working through the contract details for the second Bustang bus trip between Crested Butte and Denver.
