Come for the Pot, Stay For the Powder? Colorado Finds Roughly Half of Tourists Visit Due To Legal Marijuana

We have been following the expanding market pressures in favor of legalization of marijuana in the United States. Now a new study seems to support those who have argued that legalization is a powerful economic lift for the Colorado economy. It appears that the powder on the slopes is less of a draw than the pot for tourists.

A study commissioned by the Colorado Tourism Office found that tourists indicated that the marijuana laws influenced vacation decisions nearly 49 percent of the time. Of course, such surveys may not accurately reflect the full range of tourists, many of whom could be quietly avoiding the state for the same reason.

However, the emerging view is that legalization has worked economically for Colorado. Denise Miller, director of tourism surveys for Strategic Marketing and Research Insights, or SMARI, is reported as saying that, while it may not be the motivator for most tourists, “it’s become more of a motivator for those who want to do it.”

Notably, however, only 8 percent of tourists said they visited a marijuana dispensary during their trip to Colorado. Of those saying that they visited such stops, it is not surprising to see a greater draw from the laws: 85 percent said marijuana was a primary motivator of their visit to Colorado – up from 29 percent last year.

Source: Denver Post