Pitkin County leaders aren’t quite ready to swear off the traveler-affidavit program, but they expressed a willingness Tuesday to make it less restrictive and more hospitable to visitors.
Responding to Aspen business leaders’ concerns that the affidavit requirement keeps driving away potential visitors and will continue hurting the tourism trade, Pitkin County Manager Jon Peacock told commissioners he and staff will recommend to the board of health at its Thursday meeting to consider a revamp of the program.
“It would be a change or modification of the travel affidavit to make testing optional,” Peacock said.
Peacock is proposing the county no longer require travelers 10 and older to submit an online affidavit acknowledging they haven’t had symptoms for 10 days and have either been fully vaccinated or have received a negative COVID-19 test result within 72 hours of arriving in Pitkin County. The program also requires visitors to quarantine for 10 days if they are not tes
The more the incidence rate of COVID-19 cases lowers in Pitkin County, the faster businesses will be able participate in a state program that eases public health restrictions.
Alex Hager / Aspen Public Radio
The pandemic took a heavy toll on Aspen’s tourism industry during the December holidays, usually the airport’s busiest time of year. In the two-week period around Christmas, the number of arriving passengers at Aspen-Pitkin County airport was down 53% from the year before.
During the same winter holiday period in 2019-2020, the airport recorded 28,000 arrivals. This year, that number was down to about 13,000.
The number of commercial flights was only down by 20%, but arriving aircraft are carrying fewer passengers than normal.
“There’s still a lot of flights coming in, but they’re not full,” said Caroline Bonynge, the airport’s director of operations. “In years prior, we were seeing full flights, but now we’re seeing flights with half that capacity coming in.”
Levin, Yeager recognized for their contributions to community during pandemic
Staff reports
City of Aspen’s Chad Cornish, left, Jeff Ellis and Tim Brignolo pack down snow to prepare for the Winterskol snow carvings in downtown Aspen on Monday, Jan. 11, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
Amid the changes brought on by the pandemic, the organizers of Aspen’s annual Wintersköl want people to know “The Snow Must Go On.”
The slogan for this year’s event, which starts Thursday and runs through Sunday, was picked for the 70th annual event going on under “unique circumstances,” organizers said Monday in a news release.
For Winter in Aspen & Snowmass
You didn’t bring the kids to Aspen or Snowmass this winter so they could be trapped inside to master their skills at Tik Tok or Monopoly, right?
Just because there may be restrictions and new rules to live by in this COVID-19 world which means Aspen and Snowmass Village aren’t their festive, lively selves this time of year there are still mounds of family fun to be had.
People enjoy opening day on Aspen Mountain on Saturday, November 23, 2019. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times) Let’s start with the obvious destination: the slopes.
This season