Gazette Telegraph, Colorado Springs
May 4, 1993, pg F6

By Ray Flack, Denver Bureau

DENVER--Tourism, a vital part of Colorado's economy, showed a robust increase 
in 1992 and should continue to climb, industry spokesmen said Monday.

State Tourism Board members presented to legislators a symbolic $6.4 billion 
check, representing the 1992 monetary contribution of tourism.  The figure was 
up from $5.9 billion in 1991.

A report by the board showed that tourists spent $743.8 million in El Paso 
County in 1992.  This brought in $28.7 million in state taxes, $18.7 million in 
local taxes and provided employment for 13,463 people.

Comparable figures for Teller County showed tourists spending $7.45 million, 
$287,467 of which went to state taxes and $187,472 to local taxes. The spending 
accounted for 135 jobs.

Kitty Clemens, executive director of Pikes Peak Country Attractions Association 
of Manitou Springs, said passage of Amendment 2 last November has not hurt 
family tourism.

The amendment that bans laws granting specal rights to homosexuals has had an 
effect on conventions and meetings but hardly any on general tourism, Clemens 
said.

Across the state, tourism accounts for 125,000 jobs. Without tourism taxes, 
each household in Colorado would have had to pay an average of another $320 in 
taxes, the report said.

The Legislature is working on bills to extend a 0.2 percent tourism promotion 
tax until November and to ask voters to continue to levy the tax.