Durango Exhibit 24: City of Durango, Colorado: Economic Impacts of Whitewater Recreation Final Report

• Description: Durango RICD
• State: CO
• Basin: San Juan/Dolores
• Water Division: 7
• Date: 6/1/2006
• Author: RPI Consulting
• Title: Durango Exhibit 24: City of Durango, Colorado: Economic Impacts of Whitewater Recreation Final Report
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Court Documents

City of Durango: Economic Impacts of Whitewater Recreation Final Ropw 2006
Figure 8. Commercial Whitewater Rentals & Class Economic Impacts
Consequently total user days from these user groups was estimated at over 2300 per year with
an attendant total economic impact of over $530,000.
EMPLOYMENT
Commercial River rafting operations are currently largely seasonal - with the majority of business
occurring between May and September. June, July, and August are the busiest months
although training camps, equipment rentals, and skill classes occur into the shoulder seasons.
Due to the typically seasonal nature of employment this report calculates employees in terms of
Part Time Employee Equivalents (PTE); functionally, this translates to one worker employed for
one -half a year equivalent hours (1040 hours) at one half of the 2005 La Plata County
earnings per job ('$30,000/2 = $15,000). Estimated total commercial whitewater associated sales
were provided by the City of Durango Finance Department - an estimated total payroll was
derived from the sales and cross - checked by personal interviews with rafting company owners.
Total PTE was calculated from the payroll - please note that the PTE converts many quarter -
time (and under) employees to a flat, part time equivalent for simplicity.
In addition to the direct employment generated by commercial whitewater, significant multiplied
employment accrues from the total sales created by the industry - the typical means to calculate
total employment fomented by an industry is through the Regional Input Output Modeling System
- commonly known as RIMS and developed by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In this report
the RIMS employment multiplier is used to estimate the total employment associated with the
whitewater rafting industry per million of direct local expenditures. In this case, the RIMS
industry number 760206 for "Other Amusement and Recreation Services," was utilized to yield an
employment multiplier of roughly 33 additional employees created for every million in total sales.
Total direct and multiplied employment from the Durango Commercial Whitewater Recreation
Industry is approximately 375 PTE. Although total sales and payrolls were suppressed from
public release for proprietary reasons, totals have been tabulated and reveal total estimated
direct employment factored by the RIMS multiplier to yield total associated industry employment.
Ft P9 Cog4 If lvB Ins..
970.382.9153
9
Total Estimated
User Days
Direct
Expenditur
Total Economic Impact
Raft/Kayak
571
$ 22,840
$ 58,470
Rental
Skills Class
1,789
$ 186,839
$ 478,307
TOTAL
2,360
$ 209,679
$ 536,777
Consequently total user days from these user groups was estimated at over 2300 per year with
an attendant total economic impact of over $530,000.
EMPLOYMENT
Commercial River rafting operations are currently largely seasonal - with the majority of business
occurring between May and September. June, July, and August are the busiest months
although training camps, equipment rentals, and skill classes occur into the shoulder seasons.
Due to the typically seasonal nature of employment this report calculates employees in terms of
Part Time Employee Equivalents (PTE); functionally, this translates to one worker employed for
one -half a year equivalent hours (1040 hours) at one half of the 2005 La Plata County
earnings per job ('$30,000/2 = $15,000). Estimated total commercial whitewater associated sales
were provided by the City of Durango Finance Department - an estimated total payroll was
derived from the sales and cross - checked by personal interviews with rafting company owners.
Total PTE was calculated from the payroll - please note that the PTE converts many quarter -
time (and under) employees to a flat, part time equivalent for simplicity.
In addition to the direct employment generated by commercial whitewater, significant multiplied
employment accrues from the total sales created by the industry - the typical means to calculate
total employment fomented by an industry is through the Regional Input Output Modeling System
- commonly known as RIMS and developed by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In this report
the RIMS employment multiplier is used to estimate the total employment associated with the
whitewater rafting industry per million of direct local expenditures. In this case, the RIMS
industry number 760206 for "Other Amusement and Recreation Services," was utilized to yield an
employment multiplier of roughly 33 additional employees created for every million in total sales.
Total direct and multiplied employment from the Durango Commercial Whitewater Recreation
Industry is approximately 375 PTE. Although total sales and payrolls were suppressed from
public release for proprietary reasons, totals have been tabulated and reveal total estimated
direct employment factored by the RIMS multiplier to yield total associated industry employment.
Ft P9 Cog4 If lvB Ins..
970.382.9153
9