Jan. 15--The weaker U.S. dollar will make international tourism here more frequent and Colorado exports more affordable, analysts said Wednesday at the Vectra Bank Colorado Economic Forecast breakfast in Denver.

"You will hear more Japanese, French and German spoken in Denver than you've heard in 10 years," predicted Jeff Thredgold, a Vectra Bank economist. "People will look to travel to the U.S. as a bargain."

The dollar has fallen more than 44 percent against the euro and 20 percent against Japan's yen during the past two years, he said.

Doing the math in U.S. dollars, a Colorado getaway that might have cost a German family $15,000 in 2001 would now run closer to $8,400.

One large Colorado tour operator has reported bookings for next summer from overseas are up 10 percent over last year, said Rich Grant, spokesman for the Denver Metro Visitors & Convention Bureau.

The dollar's weakness will prove helpful to Colorado in another way. Goods produced in the state, from computer hard drives to rump roasts, now cost much less in foreign markets.

State exports had been falling through April but reversed course and were on track to rise 10 percent in 2003, said Jim Reis, president of the World Trade Center.

Colorado should reach $6 billion in exports for 2003 and has a good chance of matching the 2000 peak of $6.6 billion this year, Reis said.

The monkey wrench in that prediction is the mad-cow scare, which could dent the state's $300 million worth of beef exports.

A possible downside of the weaker dollar in Colorado and across the United States are higher consumer prices on imported goods and higher travel costs internationally.

On the jobs front, Thredgold forecast that Colorado will gain 25,000 to 35,000 jobs this year, which is in a range of estimates made by other Colorado economists.

More than two years after the U.S. recession officially ended, Colorado remains the only state in the Rocky Mountain region that is still losing jobs, he said.

The state ranks 46th for job growth and dead last for growth in per-capita income, according to Economy.com, an online provider of economic analysis based in West Chester, Pa.

"We are not quite there yet," said Patricia Silverstein, an economist for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce. "We are just on the cusp of recovery."

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