Most of us were not even in the same room on Tuesday June 2, during the regular Pagosa Springs Town Council meeting. Most of the meeting participants were tucked away in their own homes, with the doors and windows safely shut, speaking into a computer or smart phone, and watching the other participants on a Zoom screen.
It’s not exactly that we were afraid of one another. Not exactly. We’re all neighbors. Friends, or acquaintances.
We were mainly following the guidance of the public health experts, who believe that we can ultimately save lives by keeping our distance from one another… by staying home… by refusing to socialize. I can’t say if any of the Town Council members actually believe they are saving lives by holding Zoom meetings and avoiding each other’s physical presence, but on June 2, they were willing to set an example of accepted health practices.
During that well-separated event, one of the key topics was the tourism industry. That is to say, strangers to our town, coming from who-knows-where.
For the past 30 years or so, Pagosa Springs and Archuleta County have been betting all their chips on a tourist economy, as a sure-fire way to ensure “growth.” I’m not sure how many of our current Town Council members believe that “sustained growth via tourism” is a sensible long-term economic model for a small town in the middle of nowhere, but on June 2, they were willing to set an example of accepted economic practices.
Many people in Archuleta have an unshakeable belief that tourism generates a sizable number of jobs and a certain kind of prosperity, although that theory has mainly anecdotal evidence to support it. We do know that the jobs generated by tourism are often low-wage jobs — paying the same kind of menial wages paid to meat processing employees ($11 per hour) and nursing home caretakers ($10 per hour).
One of the people who makes a comfortable living from tourism, however, is the Town’s Tourism Director, Jennie Green — in my opinion, one of the hardest working tourism directors in this part of the country, but also someone who earns a far more generous paycheck than the average Jack or Jill working on the front lines.
If you want to make a good living from tourism in Archuleta County, you probably want to work for the government, or own a tourism business.
At any rate, the self-isolated discussion on June 2 centered around when to begin “inviting” the tourists back to Pagosa. We really do want the tourists to return, with their wallets, but we really don’t want them to return and bring contagious viruses. We’ve missed the bullet, so far, as have many other rural Colorado communities. (Vail and Aspen were not so lucky. Nor was Salida.) But a tourist-borne outbreak of, say, COVID-19 in Pagosa Springs would not be a good thing.
Just prior to the tourism discussion, Mayor Don Volger had invited comments from the general public — as he always does at the beginning of a Council meeting. Local resident Kathy Schultz related her experience visiting neighboring Durango.
“Yesterday, I was in Durango, and as you go into Durango you are met with a sign — an electronic sign — that says, ‘All people must wear a mask.’ They are requesting all people wear a mask in public areas. And I saw people in grocery stores and hospitals and even construction workers — every single person had a mask on.
“And I really appreciated that. Particularly because both communities are in a tourist area, and we get people coming in, from many states that don’t require any kind of precautions. And I think that we have been good in carrying out precautions and having the masks, and I would like us to have a sign like this and tell people that we would like them to wear a mask while they’re here.”
Mayor Volger thanked Ms. Schultz for her comments. (We learned later that the Town of Pagosa Springs doesn’t currently own an ‘electronic sign’ and that they typically cost around $15,000.)
Then we got around to the presentation by Tourism Director Jennie Green, and the central question, “When do we start “inviting” the tourists to visit? She had brought up the same question at previous Council meetings, without receiving clear guidance.
“Hopefully, this evening you guys will discuss this further, and see where your comfort level is with actively inviting visitors back through advertising. I provided some information in the brief, for your review…”
One chart provided in the brief showed the “Daily Arrivals” between January 1 and May 24. I’m not sure if this is a count of individuals or of families, but we can see that between January 1 and mid-March when Colorado issued its first ‘stay at home’ orders, the arrivals fluctuated between about “10” per day to as many as “240” per day.
After the issuance of the ‘stay at home’ orders, the daily arrivals remained below “10” from mid-March until the early part of May, and never got above “20”.
I don’t think anyone will be surprised by this graphically-illustrated decline in visitation after mid-March, considering the health orders issued. What might be more interesting is the fact that this chart shows fewer than “30” arrivals per day during the ongoing ski season at Wolf Creek Ski Area — except on weekends. Whether this is “30 families” or “30 individuals” — it still seems a rather meager number of tourists, for a community of 13,500 people that claims to have a “tourism economy.”
But the question remains. When should we start “inviting” the tourists back?
From the Council packet:
Active advertising was paused effective March 13th. Social media, monthly e-newsletters and Google Adwords have been the only outreach. Many communities in Colorado are beginning to invite visitors back. Through our Arrivalist data and targeted advertising capabilities, we can slowly reintroduce advertising, targeting very specific markets that we are comfortable inviting to Pagosa. While other markets will continue to visit, it is most likely those that are already familiar with Pagosa. Digital advertising efforts will allow us to introduce Pagosa as a vacation destination to new audiences. Arrivalist data shows a 30-45 day booking window from digital ad to in-market visitation. Again, efforts can begin slowly and just target Colorado, for example. Or, we can review our typical feeder markets and through Arrivalist determine which markets are beginning to travel and the distances they are traveling and target the markets that are in fact traveling the distance needed to get to SW Colorado…