OUR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM JOURNEY: LEARNING FROM OUR PEERS

TIM O’DONOGHUE

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board or other parties participating in the development of the Sustainable Destination Management Plan

Zion National Park and Springdale, Mesa Verde National Park and Durango, Arches National Park and Moab, Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor, Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks and Jackson Hole. All are travel and tourism destinations whose popularity has been a blessing to the local economy, but the popularity hasn’t always been a blessing to ecosystems and local communities.

All of these destinations and many more have seized the time during COVID-19 to ask an existential question and a sanity reality check: is this our tourism future or do we want something better? How can we expect something better if we keep the status quo?

Jackson and Teton County are now asking these questions and others to determine:

“Our challenge and opportunity is to go beyond slowing down the degradation of our environment and quality of life to regenerating these to our meet our ideals. We can and must do better.”

A) What is our current situation? B) What is our vision for the future? And how do we get from A to B?

The Jackson Hole Sustainable Destination Management Plan (SDMP) is a project funded by the Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board (JHTTB), conducted by the team of George Washington University International Institute for Tourism Studies and Confluence Sustainability, and coordinated by the Riverwind Foundation. Similar to other communities that are travel and tourism destinations, Teton County, Wyoming has embarked on the development of a vision for the future of tourism and strategies and actions to strive toward that vision. Importantly, the development process includes intensive stakeholder and community engagement so that the SDMP is a plan driven by a balance of our community’s priorities and not any one stakeholder group or special interest. (for more on the SDMP, go to https://www.visitjacksonhole.com/ locals).

While stakeholders and community members can agree on most of the positive and negative environmental, community and cultural, and economic impacts created by tourism in Jackson Hole and its spillover effects on neighboring communities, it’s a more complex challenge to get agreement on what strategies and actions will be implemented to address these impacts. However, our community is in good company with our peers. Here’s what some of our peers are up to in the United States: Vail, Colorado is using a Hotspot Management System that supports an Attraction Preservation Plan: the HMS consists of inventorying, baselining and monitoring, measuring, mitigating, and rehabilitating tourism impacts on sites and attractions to protecting natural, historical, archaeological, religious, spiritual, and cultural sites. Their Plan is governed by a stewardship council and steering committee.

Zion National Park, Utah is placing a daily cap on the number of hikers to Angels Landing through a permit system that reducing stresses on park personnel while improving visitor experience.

Durango, Colorado is coordinating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion working groups as part of a Sustainable & Responsible Tourism Task Force for destination planning and management.

Hawai’i charges a “Regenerative Tourism Fee” that directly supports programs to regenerate Hawai’i’s resources, protect natural resources, and address un- or underfunded conservation objectives.

Muir Woods National Monu-

ment, California uses an inte grated approach of limited onsite parking, satellite parking and shuttle service, and reservation system for managing visitor levels, promoting trip planning, and reduce overcrowding.

Here’s just a few destination management examples from overseas:

Grand Teton National Park

“The Park has actively managed visitation for decades. The distribution of hotel rooms, campsites, and backcountry permits are managed largely through reservation. The Park is utilizing the interagency Visitor Use Management framework as visitation rates and activities grow and change.”

Chase Krumholz

Isle of Arran, Scotland provides visitors the opportunity to donate one British Pound through accommodations and other businesses to fund mitigation of visitor impacts and support local sustainability, conservation, and historic preservation projects.

Saalfelden Leogang, Austria

created a collaborative business district with voluntary contributions by businesses supporting sustainability and regeneration of natural, cultural, and historic sites and attractions.

Triglav National Park and

Bled, Slovenia is creating a carrying capacity model based on environmental, social, and economic desired conditions to support destination management decisions.

Losini Islands, Croatia is implementing a Student & Community Investment Program to ensure young talent returns to the community through a trust supported by the tourism industry that provides monthly stipends to students attending a university and for two years after they return to the community.

Republic of Palau is promoting a dedicated app for “demonstrating responsible and regenerative behavior during their stay.” Visitors earn points that can be cashed in for experiences that won’t be available to visitors who don’t take part, such as special tours and access to sensitive sites.

These examples are a sampling from a much larger collection of destinations that are embarking on destination management plan development and implementation through private-public sector collaboration. While the development

Chase Krumholz

of a sustainable destination management plan may seem overwhelming, our community has been planning and implementing destination management actions. Here’s a very short list of such actions:

Controlling visitor numbers

through limited parking overseen by park staff and volunteers at Laurence S. Rockefeller Preserve and String Lake

Business and organization

sustainability education, training, and certification through the Sustainable Business Leaders and BEST programs

Outreach and education of

visitors and residents about environmentally and socially responsible behaviors as part of the JHTTB’s Stay Wild, Friends of the Bridger-Teton’s Recreate Responsibly, and Jackson Hole Wildlife Foundation’s Being Wild Jackson Hole campaigns Building of wildlife crossings to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions

Using the Zero Landfill Initiative and Road to Zero Waste program to reduce the waste generated and going to the landfill through improved recycling, reuse, and composting practices and infrastructure

Increasing the availability of electric vehicle charging sta-

tions and use of green power from renewable energy sources

Providing alternative forms

of transportation through diversification of START Bus routes and on-demand service, bike route networks, and bicycle shops

A significant development in destination management in Teton County, Wyoming has been the JHTTB’s approval of $1 million to support the Friends of the Bridger-Teton and Bridger-Teton National Forest’s Ambassadors for Responsible Recreation program. This program aims to use multimedia visitor outreach and education, face to face welcom-

ing and modifying behavior of visitors, and a visitor donation system for long-term program funding to prevent and mitigate negative impacts of visitation in the Forest such as human waste and trash filling dispersed camping areas, the dramatic rise in abandoned campfires, increase occurrence of wildlife-human conflicts caused by improperly stored food and trash, and strain on local law enforcement, search and rescue, and emergency services.

So, when we ask ourselves how to we go from our current situation to a better future, we need the courage to ask difficult and uncomfortable but necessary questions and allow our higher selves to answer these together, such as:

What are our desired environmental, social, and economic conditions? What are we willing to give to get these desired conditions? Who are we including and excluding in determining these desired conditions? What’s the right balance of desired conditions considering both visitors and residents? What could be the unintended consequences of our actions to strive toward these desired conditions? How do we measure our progress of our actions in sustaining or restoring these desired conditions? Who is responsible for managing these actions and ensuring transparency and accountability to our community?

Let’s learn from our peers and come together to create a Sustainable Destination Management Plan that prioritizes environmental stewardship, lessens tourisms’ burden on our community and impacts on quality of life, and creates equity and economic resiliency and vitality for all. As the Global Sustainable Tourism Council said in 2012, “Teton County more than any other place in the world has the potential to become a leader as a sustainable destination” and that we have “the natural capital, human capacity, and financial resources to realize this potential.” Our challenge and opportunity is to go beyond slowing down the degradation of our environment and quality of life to regenerating these to our meet our ideals. We can and must do better.

Connor Burkesmith