The People Have Spoken: Biennial Survey Shows That Boulder is a Destination That Visitors Would Recommend
Earlier this month, we gathered downtown business owners and stakeholders for our Fall Town Hall at eTown, where we learned about the results from our 2024 Visitor Intercept Survey, conducted by RRC, commissioned by Downtown Boulder Partnership, Visit Boulder and the city of Boulder. This survey has been conducted every other year since 1995 which provides meaningful longitudinal data to see why and how people come downtown and what they think about, it once they got here.
This summer, 775 people took the survey, compared to 669 in 2022. Despite a high office vacancy rate, (a lingering effect of post-COVID redefinition of the traditional office model), locals are coming downtown. Just over half of the Colorado respondents in the survey were from Boulder vs. 43% in 2018. Among locals, 25% live in north Boulder, which is likely a result of more housing being built in that part of town. Aside from Boulder, the biggest Colorado cities of origin are predictably Longmont, Denver, Lafayette, Broomfield and Louisville. Out-of-town visitors play a crucial role in sustaining and energizing downtown Boulder’s economy.