Number Of Visits To Downtown Denver Starting To Climb, But They're Still At Pre-Pandemic Levels

DENVER (CBS4) - Downtown Denver is on its way to a comeback. That's according to a new report released by the Downtown Denver Partnership, chronicling 2020 and the beginning of 2021.

"This report is really the most important state of downtown report that we've ever released. (We had) a historic, unpredictable, unprecedented set of circumstances that was facing downtown," Emily Brett told CBS4.

As Director of Economic Development at the Downtown Denver Partnership, she and her team have been examining the data closely. She says it's showing an economy that is recovering after a tough year.

"When you look at daily activity in downtown Denver, it's picking up every day. What that tells us is the people who are coming downtown are having a great time, telling their friends, alleviating concerns about a place that they haven't been and they're remembering why they love downtown and the experiences it has to offer," said Brett. "It's everything that makes us human."

The report states that:

- Downtown went from a pre-pandemic average of 250,000 people in downtown every day, to a low of 40,000 to 50,000 in March and April 2020. While downtown activity increased slightly over the summer of 2020, it fell again during the winter.
- March 2021 marked the start of a sustained increase in downtown activity.
- Average daily activity in April was 123,000 people, and thus far the May 2021 average daily activity has been 148,000.

The study also looked at retail. Retail activity downtown decreased significantly in 2020 as employees, visitors and retail demand drivers -- such as sporting events and conventions -- all vanished suddenly in March.

However, Brett cites a steep increase in foot traffic over the last few months, especially in the last three weeks. Visitors, or people who aren't living or working in downtown, are driving this recovery she says.

"More than anything, it's just kind of that FOMO experience that people are having now. They see the fun time that their friends had at the Rockies game. They see friends go out for happy hour. And we're seeing that snowball behavior on the upswing now. We saw how quickly behavior can change in our society last year, and I think we're starting to see the momentum go the other way," Brett said.

Check out the full report here.