DILLON, Colorado – A trip to the highlands may cause costs to increase this winter, but industry stakeholders predict consumer demand will still exceed totals seen in recent years.
“It is true that prices have increased slightly in our categories, in fact as in most consumer goods and most consumer product categories, to some extent, driven by inflation,” he said. said Matt Gold, CEO of Christy Sports.
Christy Sports is a retailer of ski and snowboard equipment. Gold explained that their stores across the state have tried to balance consumer interests with rising costs.
“We really have a very wide range of offerings from entry level to the most high end, the most premium levels for all types of customers,” he said.
High country restaurants also balance interests.
“We had to reduce our menu a bit, which is partly due to the pandemic and then partly to hiring and stuff like that. We found items that we can’t even get anymore,” said Jonny Greco, owner of Pastaria du Greco in Frisco.
Selected menu ingredients that are now available cost Greco more, which will mean menu markup for the future.
“It’s ongoing right now. We’ve done our best not to pass this on to our customers until we have to,” said Greco. “We plan to do a new menu with higher prices, especially things like some of our additions: salmon, tenderloin or adding shrimp.”
Despite inflation, both Greco and Gold believe guest demand will exceed previous tourism totals.
“The cabin fever that we have seen this summer is going to continue this winter,” said Greco.
“I think local customers as well as car and destination travel customers will be back this year,” Gold said.