A recent Colorado Tourism Office survey of summer travelers shows 48 percent were influenced by legal recreational pot 
 
 Marijuana businesses have long proclaimed that cannabis is drawing visitors to Colorado. Now they have proof. 
 
 A study commissioned by the Colorado Tourism Office and presented to the office's board of directors on Wednesday shows legal weed as a growing motivator for trips to Colorado — conflicting with the mantra of tourism officials statewide that savvy marketing alone is responsible for record visitation and spending in the past two years. 
 
 While the state's "Come to Life" ad campaign is certainly successful, surveys in October and November of potential summertime visitors who were exposed to the state's tourism ads revealed that the marijuana laws influenced vacation decisions nearly 49 percent of the time. 
 
 Budtender Kate Evans, behind counter, helps a customer at Native Roots Dispensary at 1550 Champa street in Denver on December 9. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post) 
 
 "I think it is rearing its head as a significant travel and tourism amenity for visitors coming to Colorado," said Al White, who retired as boss of the Colorado Tourism Office in August and now serves on the board of a cannabis tourism company. 
 
 But the survey's director said the questions may not have captured the opinion of people who opted out of Colorado travel because of legal pot. And only 8 percent of the Colorado tourists who responded to the survey said they visited a marijuana dispensary. 
 
 "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. 
 
 The state tourism office has spent more than $5.3 million to run its "Come to Life" television, print, billboard and digital ads in these cities as well as nationally this summer. The campaign hit 11.1 million households, up from 9.4 million in 2014. 
 
 SMARI estimated the 2015 summer ad campaign spurred 2.1 million leisure trips, generating an economic impact of $2.6 billion. That means for every dollar the state invested in its tourism promotion effort, it generated a $490 return, up from $344 in 2014. 
 
 So the ad campaign is working very well. But those ads never mention marijuana. Yet, 22 percent of survey respondents said marijuana was "extremely influential" in their decision to visit Colorado. Twenty percent said it was "very much influential" and nearly 7 percent said it was "somewhat influential." 
 
 But only 8 percent of tourists said they visited a marijuana dispensary during their trip to Colorado — the same percentage who said they visited a pot shop last year, according to SMARI's survey. 
 
 Of the 8 percent who went pot shopping, 85 percent this year said marijuana was a primary motivator of their visit to Colorado, up from 29 percent last year. 
 
 Retail sales of recreational marijuana became legal Jan. 1, 2014. 
 
 Last year — the first year SMARI asked marijuana questions to potential Colorado vacationers — 65 percent of Colorado visitors did not consider legal weed in their vacation decision, with the remainder split between respondents saying they were "more likely to visit" and "less likely to visit" because of marijuana. 
 
 This year, those results moved slightly, with 20 percent of potential Colorado vacationers saying the state's marijuana laws made them more likely to book a vacation and 15 percent saying they were less likely. The remainder said it wasn't an issue. 
 
 The question in SMARI's summer survey asked: "How much did the legalization of marijuana usage influence your decision to visit Colorado?" 
 
 SMARI's Miller said her team needs to follow up with better questions. 
 
 New tourism office chief Cathy Ritter, who started her job last week, said last month that legal cannabis is "a great topic for discussion and a great topic for more research." 
 
 Ritter did not speak during the board discussion of marijuana Wednesday. But in November, when she was named to the post, she said it "seems to be that the tourism program today is essentially silent on the whole issue." 
 
 In Telluride, where 80 percent of voters approved recreational weed in 2012, the new tourism tagline is "The Most Colorado Place on Earth." It's one of the few Colorado towns that doesn't ignore pot as a guest amenity. One local dispensary delivers goods through its own app. 
 
 "We dabble, but ... we don't want to fly the freak flag. I don't want to put it under the rug, but I don't want it to be the most important thing we do," said Michael Martelon, the president of the Telluride Tourism Board, noting that taxes from weed in the town rarely top 3 percent of the town's overall sales tax revenue. 
 
 When White announced 2014's record visitation and spending in June this year, he was quick to not credit cannabis. 
 
 "This is because we are doing a good job in Colorado. Is marijuana beneficial?" said White in June of this year. "Marginally, yes, I think it may be a decision influencer for some people coming." 
 
 Marijuana is no longer in the margins of Colorado tourism. It's taking a starring role. 
 
 "It's extremely influential," White said this week. 
 
 Danny Schaefer let out a hoot when he heard the recent survey numbers. His My420Tours hosts 120 to 200 visitors a week and just inked a deal with a national hotel chain to host his clients, each getting a cannabis vaporizer to use in the room when they check-in. (He won't name the chain yet. White is a member of his board.) 
 
 "This is absolutely validating," said Schaefer, who has urged tourism leaders to celebrate marijuana before other states where the recreational sales are legal, including Oregon and Washington, steal the tourism thunder. He's making plans to expand to Portland, Ore., where, he said, local tourism officials are welcoming him. 
 
 "The state of Colorado has had an amazing opportunity to embrace this industry," he said. "It a complete advantage for Colorado to become the Napa Valley and Sonoma County of cannabis." 
 
 Selling, possessing and using marijuana is illegal under federal law. State officials say they have never promoted marijuana because Amendment 64 regulations prevent pot businesses from advertising outside Colorado. 
 
 Schaefer says that's fine. But visitors need information. Why doesn't the state help on that front, he wondered. Education doesn't have to be advertising, he said. 
 
 "Shatter, wax, hash, dabs and transdermals. Our visitors, they have no idea what the modern industry has in the store for them and they are really lacking that education," Schaefer said. "Consumption education is absolutely necessary. We have so many people saying we were looking for information on marijuana on Colorado.com or at a Visit Denver welcome center and they couldn't find anything even mentioning marijuana. But they found hundreds of fliers and pamphlets on craft beer and liquor." 
 
 Jason Blevins: 303-954-1374, jblevins@denverpost.com or @jasonblevins ||||| State, local tax coffers swell beyond $1 billion for first time from record number of tourists 
 
 A record 71.3 million visitors spent $18.6 billion in Colorado in 2014, marking a high point for the state's thriving tourism industry. ( Denver Post file ) 
 
 A record 71.3 million visitors spent $18.6 billion in Colorado in 2014, marking a high point for the state's thriving tourism industry. 
 
 With Denver and high country resort communities reporting record performances in 2014, it's not surprising the state set new benchmarks for tourism last year. 
 
 The Colorado Tourism Office on Tuesday released a trio of reports showing the state outpacing national growth rates in every tourism category. It was the fourth year in a row that visitor counts and spending increased in Colorado. 
 
 "We are far outstripping the national average at getting our share of guests into Colorado," said Al White, director of the Colorado Tourism Office who soon will be taking on a role as senior consultant with the state's Office of Economic Development and International Trade. 
 
 This isn't about marijuana, White said. 
 
 "This is because we are doing a good job in Colorado. Is marijuana beneficial?" White said. "Marginally, yes I think it may be a decision influencer for some people coming." 
 
 White had research outfit Strategic Marking & Research Insights, or SMARI, ask travelers it polled whether marijuana played a role in their decision to possibly take a vacation in the state. 
 
 Sixty-five percent said marijuana didn't make a difference. Among the rest, 16 percent said they were more likely to visit because of legal recreational weed sales, and 18 percent said pot sales made them less likely to visit. 
 
 "So it's a double-edged sword," White said. "We have had records for the last four years in a row, and three years of those marijuana wasn't even legal. It may be a modest benefit to us, but it is not the reason we are seeing great records." 
 
 The highlights from 2014: 
 
 • Research firm Dean Runyan & Associates tallied direct spending by visitors at $18.6 billion, with 66 percent of that coming from overnight visitors who paid for lodging. That's a 7.4 percent increase over 2013, which also was a record year for Colorado. The national annual growth rate in visitor expenditures for 2014 was 4.5 percent. 
 
 • Runyan reported that the Denver metro area accounted for more than half of the state's travel spending, with mountain resorts making up the next largest chunk at 23 percent. But Runyan's survey showed mountain resorts accounting for 24.6 percent of all travel-generated earnings, versus 4.1 percent of all travel-generated earnings coming from the Denver metro area. (Explanation: Holidays are pricier in Vail than Lakewood.) 
 
 • Runyan's research showed the state's tourism-dependent businesses generating $1.1 billion in local and state taxes in 2014, surpassing the billion-dollar mark for the first time. That's about $215 in tax revenue for every Colorado resident. 
 
 • Tourism supported 155,300 jobs in Colorado in 2014, a 3.3 percent increase over 2013. Those workers earned $5.1 billion in 2014, a 7.1 percent increase over 2013. 
 
 • Longwoods International, which surveys 2 million travelers each year for its state and city clients, tallied a record 71.3 million visitors to Colorado in 2014. Overnight trips reached 33.6 million, an increase of 8 percent over 2013. 
 
 • Colorado remains the country's top ski destination with a 21 percent share of all overnight ski trips. 
 
 • Longwoods showed a record 16.1 million of 2014's visitors were influenced by the state's marketing campaign. Visits to friends and family climbed 11 percent in 2014 to a new high of 13.3 million. 
 
 • Overnight visitors to Colorado spent $12.5 billion in 2014, a 19 percent increase over 2013. Spending by daytrippers reached $2.7 billion, up 27 percent from 2013. 
 
 • Spending by overnight visitors in 2014 climbed in all five main business sectors of the state's tourism industry: lodging spending was up 18 percent to $3.4 billion, transportation spending rose 20 percent to $2.9 billion, food and drink spending climbed 24 percent to $2.6 billion, sightseeing and attractions spending climbed 14 percent to $1.9 billion, and retail spending climbed 21 percent to $1.7 billion. 
 
 • Longwoods showed that travelers staying in vacation rental homes contributed 21 percent to all travel expenditures, revealing the soaring role of rent-by-owner homes in the travel industry. 
 
 • The top out-of-state markets for Colorado vacationers were California, Texas, Illinois, Florida and New York. Colorado residents remained the top vacationers in their own state, making up 34 percent of all overnight leisure travelers in 2014, which marks a decline from 2013 and 2014. 
 
 The state's top tourism champions credited — not surprisingly — their work for the surge in visitors. The state's 4-year-old, $7.2 million "Come To Life" ad campaign generated 1.7 million additional trips to Colorado, according to SMARI. 
 
 That means the state's television, print and radio ads — $5.3 million for summer and $1.9 million for winter — stirred a $2.6 billion impact between April 2014 and March 2015, according to SMARI. 
 
 "It's a very strong campaign that makes a very close and personal connection with people and makes them want to visit Colorado," said Denise Miller, a vice president at SMARI. 
 
 Most important for tourism leaders who lobby state legislators for increased tourism marketing money each year, the ad campaign delivered $361 for every $1 invested, a return on investment that will certainly highlight next year's tourism lobbying efforts. That's up from a $228 return on each dollar invested in 2012. 
 
 "This is why the legislature likes to give us money," White said. "Because we give them back way more than they give us." 
 
 Jason Blevins: 303-954-1374, jblevins@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jasonblevins ||||| Tourists stopping in at pot shops are not coming to Colorado specifically for marijuana, a recent survey by a Fort Lewis College professor found. 
 
 Shortly after marijuana was legalized, the survey garnered answers from 325 people exiting five marijuana shops across three Southwest Colorado counties, said Lorraine Taylor, assistant professor of management at FLC. 
 
 The survey is part of Taylor’s larger study on the effect of marijuana on the tourism industry that has not been completed. 
 
 But the early findings are positive for those who feared marijuana would damage Colorado’s reputation as a family-friendly destination, she said. 
 
 “I think a couple years ago, we were really worried – we as in the tourism community – that just hoards of people were going to come and get stoned and sit on Main Street. That’s not what’s happening,” she said. 
 
 Instead, most tourists are coming to Colorado to partake in other recreational activities, she said. But being able to purchase legal marijuana in Colorado is “the icing on the cake.” 
 
 The attraction of marijuana is likely to diminish as a tourism factor in the coming years because other states are working on legalization efforts, Taylor said. There are efforts in nine states to legalize marijuana in 2016, CNN reported in November. 
 
 The study also found that while some people surveyed were purchasing marijuana legally for the first time, 200 of the 325 people used marijuana daily. 
 
 “If you are a daily user, you probably have access to product that you wouldn’t have to pay such a high tax on, but yet these people are going to the legal shops as opposed to the black market,” she said. 
 
 Many people said they preferred to buy products legally because legal weed is more likely to have been tested. Therefore, it’s safer to use. 
 
 The views reflected in the survey came mostly from men younger than 30 because that demographic was the most open to sharing, Taylor said. 
 
 Taylor plans to continue her survey work in the spring. At that time, she plans to hone in on the main reasons why tourists purchase marijuana using a methodology that could be replicated by other researchers.
– Legal marijuana is taking tourism in Colorado to new highs, if a new study is to be believed. The Denver Post reports a study commissioned by the Colorado Tourism Office found nearly 49% of Colorado visitors between April and September came at least in part because of pot. "I think it is rearing its head as a significant travel and tourism amenity for visitors coming to Colorado," a former tourism office head says. The survey also showed 20% of potential tourists were more likely to visit Colorado because of legal weed compared to 15% who were less likely. Somewhat surprisingly, only 8% of tourists surveyed admitted to actually visiting a marijuana dispensary while in the state. A smaller study out of Fort Lewis College found most tourists come to Colorado for other reasons, but legal marijuana is "the icing on the cake," the Durango Herald reports. According to the Post, Colorado has welcomed a record number of tourists in the past two years. Prior to the study, tourism officials had been crediting that increase solely to "savvy marketing." The Colorado Tourism Office spent more than $5.3 million on a new advertising campaign, which doesn't mention pot at all, Colorado Public Radio reports. But it shouldn't be that way, the owner of one pot tourism company tells the Post: "The state of Colorado has had an amazing opportunity to embrace this industry. It is a complete advantage for Colorado to become the Napa Valley and Sonoma County of cannabis."