The information at the heart of our post about the top twelve tourist attractions in Denver was provided by Visit Denver, which just issued a treasure trove of information about who's coming here and why.

For instance, the group offers data about the top ten home cities of visitors, but not about why they might have chosen D-town as a destination -- so we came up with some possible reasons. Look below to count down the photo-illustrated list and see our guesses about motives below.

Number 10: Minneapolis Wikipedia: "The warmest temperature ever recorded in Minneapolis was 108 °F (42 °C) in July 1936, and the coldest temperature ever recorded was −41 °F (−41 °C), in January 1888. The snowiest winter of record was 1983-84, when 98.4 inches (250 cm) of snow fell." Number 9: Kansas City The Kansas City Star: "Kansas City's violent crime and murder rates are among the nation's highest and have been for many years.

"That's a big black mark against keeping state control of the Police Department, as some in the business community contend is best."

Continue to keep counting down the ten cities that send the most tourists to Denver and why they may be leaving home. Number 8: Albuquerque, New Mexico From Anthony Salvagno's post "The Worst Thing About Albuquerque:" "Allergies! Drive-by shootings, hippies and liberals, gang violence, poor job prospects, drug addicts, insufficient parking in Nob Hill, drunk driving, low wages, dust, ghetto people, boredom ... (jeez, guys, let's get back to talking about the sunshine. Oh wait, you don't like that either.) Nothing stays open late enough, and there's not enough to do -- especially for kids. And the sprawl! And the people, they're the worst: Americans are supposed to speak English. It's way too dry. Also, it's trashy and dirty. Hmph." Number 7: San Francisco Mint.com: "With a cost of living index of 163.4, San Francisco is the third most expensive city in the country. The average home costs $810,067, meaning the city only trails New York in terms of having the most expensive housing market." Continue to keep counting down the ten cities that send the most tourists to Denver and why they may be leaving home. Number 6: Dallas/Fort Worth From "Living in Dallas: A Pros and Cons List:" "Because of the oversaturating pestilence that is shopping mall after shopping mall, you forget that there are places in the world that are green, beautiful, and natural." Number 5: Salt Lake City, Utah From Utah's Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control: "The sale and service of alcoholic beverages is regulated by the State of Utah. Alcoholic beverage control is a concept that Utah shares with other states and countries. Utah's liquor laws are based on the general philosophy of making alcoholic beverages available in a manner that reasonably satisfies the public demand. In this respect, however, the state does not promote or encourage the sale or use of alcohol." Continue to keep counting down the ten cities that send the most tourists to Denver and why they may be leaving home. Number 4: Chicago CNN: "Activists say gun control isn't the only thing needed to reduce deaths in Chicago; what they need are more trauma centers." Number 3: New York City Village Voice: "The Big Apple reclaims its heavyweight title in hostility, a dubious honor it last held in 2009 -- and a reputation it has had for much longer ('You talkin' to me?')." Continue to keep counting down the ten cities that send the most tourists to Denver and why they may be leaving home. Number 2: Phoenix An article in the New York Times circa August 2012: "Nine Straight Days of 110 or More: That's Hot, Even for Phoenix." Number 1: Los Angeles, California From the Vice article "Reasons Why Los Angeles is the Worst Place Ever:" "I recently moved from London to Los Angeles. Despite the fact that LA is the undisputed worst place in the entire world, I've been trying super hard to like it. Mainly because I like being that guy who likes the thing everyone else hates just to annoy people (which reminds me, people I know in real life: I never really liked Skrillex or Twilight. You should've seen your faces, though)."

More from our Things to Do archive: "Photos: Denver's top twelve tourist attractions."

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