Aspen counts higher occupancy this summer — so far

The Aspen Chamber Resort Association is predicting a busy summer and has already seen a bustling start to the year.

Occupancy rates booked for June, July, and August are all higher than or equal to last year’s rates. The occupancy rates tallied between Jan. 1 and April 30 are higher than the historical five-year average for the same period. There are also more people flying in and out of the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport compared to recent years.

Occupancy booked so far this summer 

Aspen’s June occupancy rate is currently booked at 62% as opposed to 58% last year, according to Eliza Voss, Aspen Chamber Resort Association vice president of Destination Marketing. July currently has a 53% occupancy rate, the same as of this time last year. August is booked at 9% higher than last year’s 37%. September so far has a 13% in bookings compared to last year.

“There’s continued interest in Aspen as a destination,” Voss said. 

June will likely bring a substantial jump in occupancy as the town emerges from off-season. Between 2012 and 2024, excluding 2020’s COVID-19 pandemic year, May has seen a 30.75% occupancy rate while June more than doubles to 62.42%. 

Voss said it’s important to note, however, that occupancy doesn’t take into account the increase in visitation by second home owners during the busy season.

Spring, winter occupancy compared to previous years

The city has also seen an increased occupancy rate so far this calendar year as opposed to last year, according to the chamber. 

January saw a 74% occupancy rate, 5% higher than 2024’s January rate of 69%. February saw an 80% occupancy rate which was 2% higher than the same period last year. March tallied 74% occupancy, the same rate as in 2024. April — the height of the slow season — had a 41% occupancy rate this year, the highest since 2019, and 5% higher than the 36% recorded in 2024. May’s occupancy rate hasn’t yet been published by the chamber.

Voss said on the whole the winter has had about a 5% higher occupancy rate than last year.

This year has seen a 1.74% increase in occupancy rates between Jan. 1 and April 30 compared to the average occupancy over the same period between 2018 and 2024, for a total of 67.25%. (This metric excludes 2020 and 2021, which saw unusually low numbers.)

The special events calendar, which includes events like Winterskol, Gay Ski Week, and X Games, are particular drivers of visitation, according to Voss. 

This year the city of Aspen collected $2.76 million from its 2% lodging tax between Jan. 1 and April 30, a 5% increase from the same period last year.

Airport use

Aspen/Pitkin County Airport flight passenger numbers in and out also exceeded historical numbers. The airport saw 10.33% more passengers fly in and out between Jan. 1 and April 30 in 2025 than the average of the same period between 2019 and 2024. (That’s excluding 2020 and 2021, which had unusually low visitation.)

April’s count this year was 8.7% higher than April 2024, recording 41,641 passengers who flew in and out of the airport. March tallied a record 101,865 passenger flights, surpassing the 100,000 benchmark for the first time in its history, and landing 8.7% higher than last year’s numbers during the same month. 

February recorded 88,140 passengers flying in and out, 1.6% higher than the same time last year. January tallied 91,385, 9.5% more than January 2024. 

But it’s not higher visitation that is driving up the airport’s numbers.

“It’s clearly being driven by more local use going outbound,” said Bill Tomcich, who serves on the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport Advisory Board. 

Tomcich said the airport has seen increased local use because the “fair premium” is less that it has been in previous years, meaning there is a smaller difference between a ticket to fly in or out of the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport as compared to larger airports that generally have cheaper tickets.

“The air service has become more reliable and more affordable,” Tomcich said. 

Delta, United, and American airlines all offer year-round service in and out of the airport, apart from the period in the spring when the airport is closed, according to Tomcich.

Looking ahead, Tomcich said there’s actually been a small drop in the number of total planes scheduled to use Aspen’s airport, which he attributes partly to the introduction of the E-175, a new passenger plane. The new plane has a longer range and more modern technology than the CRJ-700, which it will in part replace, potentially cutting down the airport’s cancellations.

Tomcich said United is the only airline to reduce its total plane count this summer, which he estimated would yield a very small reduction in total flights in and out of the airport. 

“They’re able to fluctuate their capacity to better meet the market’s demand,” Tomcich said of United.

He said United won’t have as many flights in early June, will have more in July and the beginning of August, before decreasing again in mid-August and September. 

Despite the reduction, he said the total number of passengers flying in and out of the airport could still increase if each plane flies closer to its capacity than in previous years.

Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.