Rachel Brown of Visit Durango is new here and it’s her job to market this town. I get it, I really do.
But what she doesn’t seem to understand is that the small-town quality of life here in Durango is under siege as tourist numbers grow every year. And with those tourists are impacts, sometimes heavy impacts, from overuse in the mountains, lack of parking, traffic and crowds where there used to be none.
Look at last summer as an example, and please explain why millions of dollars more in marketing need to be spent here to bring in tourism? As a long-time local here, the only relief we do get is during the shoulder seasons when we have a break from the hordes and can enjoy the quiet of our small town.
And now Rachel Brown wants to erase those quiet times as well? Please define “sustainable” tourism and how you’re going to better our quality of life for anyone except tourists? Do you even know what it’s like to live in a small town and watch a local community deal with the increasing congestion and impacts of heavy tourism? If this lodgers tax gets passed, you will see soon enough.
Derek ThielinDurango
