Pueblo tourism generated $41 million in lodging sales in 2025

Tourism contributed $29.2 billion to Colorado's economy last year, and travel activity in Pueblo resulted in the Home of Heroes generating $41 million worth of lodging gross sales.

A Greater Pueblo Chamber of Commerce news release reported that Pueblo saw 4,657,443 visitor trips in 2025, and those visitors stayed two days on average. July saw the greatest number of visits, but August saw the highest visitor spending levels.

Chamber Vice President Donielle Kitzman told the Chieftain the chamber prefers to put its resources — like lodging tax funds from the city of Pueblo — toward conferences and events, knowing that's where the biggest payoff is going to be when it comes to tourism.

"Because our budget is so limited at its current level, we are prioritizing conference and event sales… bringing in those events to Pueblo versus general destination marketing," she said.

In 2025, over 50 conferences and events were in some way serviced by the chamber. Conferences and events received assistance with booking hotels, booking receptions, planning, registration and more.

Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) football and golf championships, the Grassroots Gravel cycling race, NCAA Division II track championships, the Transportation Technology Center Conference & Tour hosted by ENSCO, and the Wings of Pride air show were among the events driving tourism spending in Pueblo last year.

The Colorado State Fair and Pueblo Chile & Frijoles Festival also continue to be significant tourism drivers as multi-day, large-scale events, Kitzman said.

Looking at out-of-state markets, the Dallas-Fort Worth market was Pueblo's "leading source of visitors" in 2025, according to the chamber. Significant tourism from the Dallas-Fort Worth area to Pueblo in 2025 was the result of a few factors.

The area is among the largest "drive markets" or areas within driving distance that receive chamber marketing campaigns. Pueblo also serves as a natural "stopping point" for visitors coming from Texas to Denver and the Western Slope, Kitzman said.

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While the $41 million in lodging sales is an over 8% decrease from 2024, Kitzman said there is optimism for the future.

"Right now, we are managing two grants through the Colorado Tourism Office that we received in 2025 for the 2026 year," she said.

Grants being managed include assistance with marketing Pueblo during the 150th anniversary of Colorado and the 250th anniversary of the United States. The other is a "destination management plan."

"Right now, we are engaged in the activity with our tourism stakeholders in Pueblo to create a short-and-long term strategy to increase and enhance Pueblo as a destination for tourism in the future," Kitzman said.

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Pueblo Chieftain reporter James Bartolo can be reached at [email protected]. Support local news; subscribe to the Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo tourism generated $41 million in lodging sales in 2025