Six members of the Pagosa Springs Area Tourism Board (PSATB) attended a Zoom-enabled special meeting yesterday to discuss their ‘Recovery Plan’ for our local tourism industry, and the potential challenges to the board’s Lodgers Tax-funded 2020 budget, approved back in 2019 when the future looked ever so bright.
At least I believe there were only six PSATB board members participating. Four showed up on my Zoom video screen, but two others (who were not visible on my screen) spoke during the meeting. Lately, the Town boards and commissions have been using a Zoom setting that allows the meeting host to display only a particular selection of the meeting participants.
Executive Director Jennie Green hosted the meeting, and noted that “All active marketing inviting visitors to Pagosa has been halted.” The PSATB-run Visitor Center closed its doors on March 19, and will remain closed until Colorado’s “Stay at Home/Social Distancing” order lifted.
The Recovery Plan, meanwhile, is not terribly complicated, and the current messaging is simple.
We will welcome you to our “Refreshingly Authentic” community when this thing blows over. In the meantime, enjoy these drone videos of the surrounding forest.
How are we Poised for Recovery?
Tourism in Pagosa is largely based on ‘drive’ market. It goes without saying that most tourists arrive here by car or RV, though a very small number fly in by plane via our tax-funded County airport.
Air travel and international will be impacted longer. Probably true, but who really knows? We’ve never been through an economic crisis quite like this one.
Summer visitation is not dependent on events. True. Pagosa hosts few tourist-focused events during the summer months, even in a ‘normal’ year. The annual Fourth of July celebration might still happen, or it might not. Thingamajig Theatre’s popular summer season has been cancelled. That’s about it.
Promote access to surrounding 2.5 million acres of wilderness and national forest. A great place to find peace and quiet, without worrying about social distancing.
Ability to provide visitor information virtually. The Tourism Board has spent lots of money over the past decade on world-class website development and phone apps. You can visit the website, VisitPagosaSprings.com, here.
Access to data that many other destinations do not have. I understand PSATB has aggressively tracked visitors through the website and phone apps, and can probably tell you how many people visited from Dallas last year, their ages and income levels, and which restaurants they looked up online while visiting. Do any of our local businesses know how to use that kind of data? I’m not sure.
Resources will be available to help with the Recovery, whenever that takes place.
But first, we ought to decide whom, exactly, we want to welcome back to Pagosa when the Recovery starts. So, maybe a “phased rollout”? An awkward topic to bring up at a public meeting, perhaps.
Board member Michael Whiting, addressing Ms. Green with a series of half-finished comments:
“We have some [tourist] markets that are sort of ‘socially backward’… my thinking is… I just want to make sure that you’re okay… because if you’re going to be deciding who isn’t going to be allowed in… How do we… What’s the criteria for inviting… I mean, not inviting certain markets back? Is it contingent on…?
“We have visitors from some socially backward places. So I want us to be as sensitive as possible… I want to make sure you have the authority… Does that need to be a board decision, or is everybody okay with Jennie making the decision… that Austin can come, but Dallas can’t? That kind of a situation?”
Jennie Green:
“I’m watching all of these markets extremely closely, but we’re not going to be able to prevent people from coming, unless the County does a ban on second-home owners — which I’ve not seen any indication that they are — that will have to come from their level. We don’t have the ability to keep people from coming to Pagosa, if they already love Pagosa.
“Now, where we will actively market… that will be strategic, and based on the comfort level of how well they’ve handled the situation. The state of Colorado and New Mexico are the first two markets that I have in mind to actively invite. But all of this is preliminary; we have no time frame. You know, when the ‘Stay at Home’ orders are actually lifted, what will that look like? Are people traveling? Things of that nature.
“But no, I can tell you that Florida and Texas stand out for me, right now, as states that I don’t necessary want to be the first ones to flood Pagosa when tourism comes back. But in another month, six weeks, that situation may change. I will keep the board updated as to what we’re seeing…”
“… I think the biggest risk with any of this Recovery effort is setting us back and having to go through another ‘Stay at Home’ order. So I want to be really careful about whom we’re inviting.”
Ms. Green reminded the board that the next PSATB meeting is May 12, and said she seriously doubts they will be “actively inviting anyone back by then.”
“I think we’re going to be in a wait-and-see mode for a bit longer.”
Ms. Green subsequently shared some thoughts about the organization’s 2020 budget, which projected its revenues, last December, at about $985,000. The funding, however, comes almost entirely from Lodgers Tax collections — and as anyone can guess, who has noticed the vacant motel parking lots lately, those taxes are not exactly pouring in at this point. Nor are they likely to pour in anytime soon.
Ms. Green crunched the numbers and offered a seat-of-the-pants projection. A 50% decline in Lodgers Tax collections for 2020, compared to recent years? So a half-million dollar decline in funding?
Time to dig into the Tourism Board savings account?
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.