People are enjoying an evening at Mountain Tap Brewery earlier this week. (Photo by John F. Russell)

In recent years, Steamboat Springs and the other Colorado mountain towns have found themselves in a dilemma: they rely on tourism to maintain their economies while preserving community character, protecting natural resources, and ensuring that longtime locals and employees are comfortable can still afford to live in the city and do their jobs.

“It’s definitely a balancing act between maintaining the city’s character and the environment that attracts these people and a city’s tourism-based economy,” said Margaret Bowes, executive director of the Colorado Association of Ski Towns. “It is imperative that our communities protect the things that have made them travel destinations.”

“We want the money to build and approve the trails, but then we tend to have them for ourselves. It’s the irony of living in one of those places, ”Steamboat City Manager Gary Suiter

Destination marketing versus destination management

To ensure that visitors come to town and support the economy, Steamboat relies on forms of advertising such as social media, spot radio and consumer print ads. The community survey, which the city sends out to randomly selected residents every few years, shows time and again that tourism is indeed important to community members. However, according to some city officials, many locals believe that tourism has more negative than positive effects.

“We want the money to build and approve the trails, but then we tend to have them for ourselves,” said Gary Suiter, City Manager, Steamboat. “That’s the irony of living in one of these places.”

While Suiter said it was almost impossible to limit the number of visitors to the city, he looked at the country’s national parks as an example of the negative effects of too much human activity.

“We come here for the natural attractions and natural resources, and then everyone else wants to come here just as we do,” Suiter said. “I think it will be too much when you begin to negatively impact the natural resources that people bring here.”

Suiter, who has worked in various resort communities for decades, said he has seen more of one term pop up lately: destination management.

As for destination management, tourism officials had different views, but most agreed that it was about conserving a community’s natural resources while welcoming visitors at the same time.

“In recent years, especially with the growth of Colorado as a whole, it has become apparent that all marketing needs to consider the impact on the destination it is promoting,” said Mia Vlaar, director of economic development for the city of Vail.

Experts also stressed that destination marketing and management should be tailored to the needs of a particular community.

In the case of Steamboat, the city council is debating whether to urge voters to reuse funds currently being spent on destination marketing and management avenues.

The Steamboat Chamber campaigns on the subject of “Leave-No-Trace”, trail education and the campaign “Care for Colorado”, a partnership between Leave No Trace and the Colorado Tourism Office, would like to see what the local management could look like aims to educate visitors about safe and responsible outdoor recreation.

“How do we protect Colorado’s precious resources and how do we increase people’s knowledge of responsible travel,” said Barb Bowman, stewardship contractor at the Colorado Tourism Office. “We’re getting to the point where sustainability has to be the focus of every travel destination.”

Other Colorado communities have implemented similar programs to ensure their public land is protected while making room for the people.

“The COVID era has made it clear that there are capacity limits in national parks and forests,” said Vlaar. “In resort communities, we have an obligation to make sure we market intelligently.”

Cheryl Stevens from Fort Collins and her friend Pam Warren from Arkansas were among the people who visited downtown Steamboat Springs on Friday as the summer tourism season kicks off. (Photo by John F. Russell)

Can communities reach their limits?

Jon Stavney, executive director of the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments, said vacation destinations like Steamboat may soon wonder if there is such a thing as too much marketing. This is because many former visitors became second home owners during the pandemic when they discovered they could work remotely and chose to work in mountainous areas.

“I think it’s a question we need to ask,” said Stavney. “Some of the people who have been around for a while are starting to feel that their quality of life is deteriorating.”

Stavney said that most people who moved to ski resorts during the pandemic could obviously afford expensive homes in such locations, but this created further economic inequality for a community’s already unbalanced workforce.

“It only promotes this challenge to housing the people building the quality of life,” said Stavney. “It takes a lot of potential workers in all of these different industries to have really high quality services and businesses.”

In a discussion on Tuesday about allocating more funding to destination marketing and management, several city council members raised the issue of bringing more visitors to the city. Community members have expressed feeling overwhelmed by too many visitors and concerned that new residents will raise property prices, they said.

Bowes also said that as the popularity of parishes that can afford to stay over the weekend and relax in a mountain parish grows, there are fewer and fewer.

“We want the young Front Range family to come to our ward for the weekend,” said Bowes. “As our churches get more expensive, the types of people who can visit our churches tend to be restricted.”

Guests sit outside Primrose on Yampa Street in downtown Steamboat Springs on Friday. (Photo by John F. Russell)

Find balance

All of the tourism experts surveyed emphasized the same point that communities need tourism to thrive, and finding the limit can be difficult when tourism has taken too much toll.

“I don’t think that there is necessarily a limit in the sand between destination management and marketing,” says Stoller. “It should go hand in hand to strike a balance between helping businesses and enabling employment.”

Suiter also said while many locals may be frustrated with the flood of visitors and new homeowners, the city can’t stop foreigners from moving to Steamboat or buying an additional home here.

“We can’t tell anyone they can’t move here,” Suiter said. “The gates are open if you can move here and buy a second, third or fourth house here.”