THE BOTTOM RAIL

by: Verbal Shredwright

When life gives you lemons… Not every winter gets off to the roaring start resorts and local businesses would like. Limited terrain for visitors usually means limited hours for resort employees. Limited early season snowfall can drive travelers to chase powder where it is. In the age of the mega pass one benefit is follow the snow where every it goes. On the other hand that also means dollars that would be spent in the local resort economies are going to be spent elsewhere too. Snowfall has always been one of the most critical drivers of ski town economies.

When times are good they are often taken for granted. When there are heads in beds and the stores, restaurants and slopes are busy with record visitors and spending it's easy to think small resort towns are too crowded an too expensive. But there is the rude awakening for those trying to balance living the dream and working to afford it. Before, locals were frustrated with "their" town being too crowded with tourists… now they're frustrated that the tourists aren't coming and spending like they did before. Economics and attitudes can impact communities just like snowfall.

So, before it was we don't want this and we don't want that. Now it's can't we bring this or that back. What changed? Priorities. This is where bad decisions influence resort community economics. The cycle goes like this. Snow is great, lots of visitors and everyone is making money… start to complain it's too crowded advocate to eliminate / replace events that brought people and made money in favor of events popular with locals that often cost money. This is the problem. You can't cut events that generate the revenues that fund all the other events for locals.

The solutions seem simple so what's the problem? It's not a easy as it sounds. Many times bigger events require cooperation between resort companies and local governments. Many small mountain communities elect local officials who see big resort companies as an adversary, not a partner. These ideologies result in local policies that are unfriendly to destination events and entertainment. These policies are interpreted as intentional to control events and squash any competition with their local promoters and non-profits. You're either in their club... or you're not.

Many ask how longtime locals allowed this to happen? For starters not all the longtime locals stayed once the lunatics hijacked the asylum. Many who could afford to sell and move did. Most became short-term rentals squeezing local workforce housing. Those who advocated for common sense economic approaches grew fewer and fewer. Those who remain are wealthy enough not to suffer from the stupidity they impose on others to virtue signal. The longtime locals elected think they're right 100% of the time, and they don't care about people they represent who disagree.

There's no such thing as perfect. But, until local popularity contest winners learn that the cycle of spending revenues requires generating revenues first… the lesson will be repeated until learned.