As a total of more than 4,000 wildfires burned across Colorado last summer, tourism-related businesses across the state struggled to convince visitors that smoke and flames were not blanketing the state.
Fiery images blazed across front pages as media organizations reported the cancellations of everything from summer concerts to fly-fishing trips because of wildfire danger.
The experience spurred public-relations and tourism-industry staff members across the state to regroup last fall and create a strategy to ensure they weren’t caught on their heels when the next crisis struck. State and local officials said it was the first time, at least in recent years, that the wildfires had compelled them to create or bolster a game plan dedicated to natural disaster response.
“We have more of a “tested” plan in place this year, and are working with local businesses to aid the strategy and tactics,” Anne Klein, who heads marketing efforts for the Durango Area Tourism Office, wrote in an email.
The Colorado Tourism Office put on its own strategy session for attendees at the annual Colorado Governor’s Tourism Conference. In a breakout session called “How to Handle a Crisis,” presenters from the tourism office’s public-relations agency went over six tips for businesses and others in the tourism industry to respond to crises.
The tips included basic advice such as telling the truth and dedicate a media spokesperson, but tips also schooled organizations about how to walk the line between advertising themselves as being open for business without being insensitive to those impacted by fire.
“It was a catalyst from last summer that we did that,” said Amber Kollman, director of consumer marketing for CTO.
While 2012 was a near-record year in terms of acres burned across the U.S., such response plans likely will become increasingly necessary as climate change, in combination with other natural and human-made factors, increases the likelihood and severity of wildfires.
In a 2009 report, the U.S. Global Change Research Program found that the West has seen a nearly fourfold increase in large wildfires in recent decades primarily stemming from earlier spring snowmelt and higher spring and summer temperatures.
For its part, DATO also beefed up its outreach and response plans after last summer when a handful of consecutive fires burned near Durango.
DATO set up a website that it could activate when needed to give travelers information about the fire situation and potential concerns such as air quality, Klein wrote. And two days after the Black Forest Fire broke out on the Front Range, the tourism office called a meeting with the Durango Chamber of Commerce, the Business Improvement District, the city of Durango and other local businesses to go over a coordinated wildfire response strategy, said Patti O’Brien, executive director of DATO.
An email blast sent to businesses in mid-June emphasized the office’s effort to broadcast Durango’s clear blue skies and cool summer nights. It encouraged businesses to post and share “real-time photos reflecting Durango’s beautiful weather, buzzing downtown streets, cool Animas waters and ongoing events and activities.”
The fires shouldn’t be mentioned, the email said, unless guests directly ask the question.
“We want to let people know that Colorado is not on fire,” O’Brien said in reference to former Gov. Bill Owens’ comment during the 2002 fire season that it looked like all of Colorado was burning. The comment stuck a blow to tourism that year, and is still fresh in the minds of many in the industry.
While many travelers certainly experienced the hassles of the closure of U.S. Highway 160 because of the West Fork Complex (three fires currently burning in the San Juan and Rio Grande national forests), many were thankful Durango’s skies have remained relatively smoke-free.
The fires actually boosted business for Alpen Rose RV Park north of Durango, said Joan Beverly, manager and owner. Many RV’ers who were planning to go to the South Fork area or who got evacuated came to Durango instead, she said.
Bill Pitts, who lives in Bedford, Texas, was one of those who rerouted his trip to Durango because of the smoke in Creede. It was 110 degrees when he left Texas, Pitts said, making Durango’s 90-degree weather seem relatively pleasant.
ecowan@durangoherald.com
