The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“It’s a competitive world out there”
By Mark Reaman
Representatives of the Gunnison-Crested Butte Tourism Association updated the Crested Butte Town Council on its recent actions and touted its success with increased lodging activity in the valley and its move to get businesses to relocate to the valley.
TA executive director John Norton said the organization decided in 2015-16 to “put our chips on summer trails, particularly mountain biking and steep terrain in winter. That turned out to be effective, as we have gained market share up and down the valley when compared to other mountain valleys,” he said in regard to comparable western mountain destinations that report lodging through the group DestiMetrics. “We now find ourselves with significantly higher occupancies within the DestiMetrics set in the summer and we are almost even in the winter.”
But Norton said it would be a mistake to stop marketing those features that have traction in attracting visitors. “We need to continually work to keep reminding people about our trails,” he said. “We are in a competitive world. Other places like Sun Valley and Bentonville, Arkansas have recognized that mountain biking is an important segment of the tourism market. It would be easy for us to lose our position in the mountain biking world. Other places with a whole lot more money are going after us right now.” He used as an example the Outerbike event that has come to the valley the last two summers. He said there is a list of other communities hoping to land the event.
Big Brother or just good information?
Mayor Jim Schmidt expressed reservations about the TA spending $100,000 on what he said was spyware that tracked visitors and their spending habits.
TA marketing director Laurel Runcie said that wasn’t accurate. “Information is gathered from people who turn on their tracking data on their phones,” she explained. “It doesn’t track spending. There are no names involved. It tracks where people go and gives us insight into how our ads are working.”
“And it sees how people are using the valley,” added Norton. “Do people who visit Crested Butte go to the Arts Center? Do they go to Hartman’s or up the Taylor Canyon to fish? We will see the travel behavior of people who come to the valley. How important is Gunnison to Crested Butte or Crested Butte to Gunnison?”
“Maybe I’m just old but Big Brother bothers me. But it probably happens everywhere,” said Schmidt.
“It does. Understanding traffic patterns is interesting and valuable,” responded Norton. “There’s no downside to us understanding how people travel in the valley.”
Expanding the mission
Norton said the Gunnison County commissioners charged the TA to expand its mission and get involved with the Sustainable Tourism and Outdoor Recreation (STOR) subcommittee of the One Valley Prosperity Project. As a result, Norton said the TA has spent part of its budget on things such as trail signage and funding the Crested Butte Conservation Corps.
“Coming from the town of Crested Butte, I really like the support of the Conservation Corps and STOR,” said councilman Chris Haver. “Bringing people here but also helping to manage people when they are here is important. I’d encourage more of that as we grow.”
Schmidt said he too liked the support for the Conservation Corps, which he said was an excellent example of an effective boots on the ground organization.
“The Conservation Corps is doing important work,” said Norton. “But to portray our local trails and backcountry as being in miserable shape [as you publicly alluded to in the past]—I dismiss that comment. I’m out there a lot and it’s just not true.”
“I didn’t mean to say the trails are in bad shape,” said Schmidt. “The Forest Service is admittedly shorthanded and it is important to keep an eye on it.”
Economic development and Blister
Norton said the commissioners also wanted the TA to help in terms of economic development and try to bring in high-end businesses with professional salaries while also supporting Western Colorado University and the ICELab.
“In terms of economic development, Blister, for example, is a growing company that relocated to the valley,” said Norton. “The owner, Jonathan Ellsworth, was looking at Telluride but he came here and he is now hiring local athletes to test outdoor gear.”
“I’m glad the commissioners are pushing you into other areas besides marketing,” said councilman Kent Cowherd. “I’d like to see more promotion of existing businesses, for example. Particularly the arts business and Creative District.”
Schmidt said a lot of people ask him about the deal the TA made with Blister to pay the company $300,000 per year for two years.
“In our search to relocate business to the valley, Blister is the biggest independent gear review company in the world,” Norton responded. “We met the owner and were very impressed. So we engaged with Jonathan to try to get him to move here instead of Telluride. The recent letter in the paper [from Jordan Williford] was misinformed, as was a newspaper article announcing the deal. [Editor’s note: Norton gave no specifics at the meeting and after rereading the article Tuesday, he said the original article was accurate.] We went to our agency and asked them to evaluate how much of the $300,000 annually could be allocated as a media buy and how much for the business relocation. The agency said all $300,000 could go as a media buy so we considered that a twofer. It was a win-win to us.”
As for future marketing collaboration with Vail Resorts that now owns Crested Butte Mountain Resort, Norton said he does not yet know how that would work. He said there has been no evidence of an expected “Vail bump” in terms of more people coming to CBMR as a result of the new ownership but he hopes to talk with Vail representatives about how to best partner with local marketing efforts in the future.
