Tourism is an industry based upon travel and fun, and is an integral part of our economy, both here in Durango and La Plata County, as well as our state and nation. In 2017, the travel industry generated $2.4 trillion for the U.S. economy, supporting 15.6 million American jobs.
One in nine U.S. jobs rely on tourism. Tourism supports one in six jobs (employing more than 6,000 people) in La Plata County, making it the No. 1 employer in our county.
Without visitors paying $1 million in lodgers tax and $7 million in sales tax annually, our citizens would bear a much greater burden of necessary government services, such as police, schools, infrastructure and more. Or worse, these services would be scaled back or cut, drastically curtailing the quality of life we have all come to take for granted.
Most of us don’t realize that investing in travel promotion is investing in economic sustainability. Showing off Durango to the world, through effective marketing and ultimately through a positive visitor experience, also attracts business and talent to our area.
Cutting into a tourism destination’s marketing budget is a short-sighted decision that undermines a city or state’s viability in ways that takes years, if not decades, to overcome.
In 1993, Colorado became the first state to eliminate its tourism promotion budget. As a result, the state’s domestic tourism market share dropped 30 percent within two years, representing a loss of more than $1.4 billion in tourism revenue annually.
That loss continued to increase to more than $2 billion annually. It took Colorado 21 years to regain its share of overnight leisure travelers.
The huge return on investment from tourism spending has been proven many times over.
It is a lesson that Colorado learned the hard way.
It is a mistake our city could make by diverting lodgers tax money to pay for city services that have proven to be unsustainable.
The lodgers tax was intended for advertising Durango and improving services that support those efforts. It was not intended to bolster city services that have proven unsustainable.
It is counterproductive to divert revenue intended to advertise Durango.
It makes no sense for the city to eliminate the potential return on that investment of 10 dollars for every dollar invested.
Contact Durango Area Tourism Office Executive Director Frank Lockwood at frank@durango.org.
