CO Resort Communities - Drought Impacts

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needed for the public in general, and for the visitors coming into the state from elsewhere. The concept of a "Drought Awareness Week" was generally seen as a bad idea to those in the tourism and recreation business because it focuses too much on the hazard rather than opportunities, producing a negative perception. However, incorporating drought into water and wildfire awareness campaigns was generally thought as being important. Finally, educating the statewide and local media on the interconnectedness of these issues was seen as being very critical so that balanced stories about the events can be followed by positive stories focusing on the recovery processes taking place locally. 6. Promote Research on the Drought Impacts, Responses, and Predictions for Resort Communities. It became clear during the study that very little is known about the complete extent of drought impacts and responses on the tourism and recreation industry, and how this affects resort communities. For example, understanding the economic loss locally and statewide from the 2002 summer for Colorado is probably not possible, due to the interconnectedness of the tourism. sector to non- hazard related trends. In addition, long -term predictions are improving and the opportunity to identify the potential for drought events on resort communities is increasing for Colorado and other locations. Understanding how the accuracy (and uncertainty) of these predictions affects action (or inaction) by decision makers at the state and resort community level becomes increasingly important. 7. Increase State Tourism Budgets. Because marketing and public perception play such an important role for resort communities and for states that rely heavily on the tourism and recreation industry, it is vitally important for states to have money set aside to help the communities and the state respond during disaster events, such. as the drought and wildfires across Colorado during the 2002 summer. Most communities surveyed. responded positively and generally enthusiastically about the efforts of the Colorado Office of Tourism during 2002, but universally agreed that the Office was short - staffed and had too little money to adequately cope with the situation. It is obvious that budget options are very limited in Colorado and any other state, but given the importance of tourism and. recreation statewide, and the impacts that disaster events have on specific resort communities and the businesses within these communities, having some contingencies built into state budgets seems necessary. 8. Create a National Office of Tourism. At times during the study, frustration was expressed at the lack of national representation and attention that recreation and tourism receives to focus attention on unique and specific needs the industry might have, particularly during hazard events. Therefore, it is recommended that a national office of tourism (or tourism and recreation) be created at some level. Disaster events, like the current drought, have a devastating local impact on communities dependant on. recreation and tourism. Thus, 13