Still Tourism-Reliant, Taos Is Diversifying

New Mexico Business Journal, June, 2001 by Mike Stauffer

When Mother Nature doesn't cooperate, the economy can catch a bad cold.

NOTHING LIKE A LITTLE BAD press in the national media to keep the tourists away in droves. High gas prices, low water levels in the Rio Grande, a couple of devastating fires within a couple hundred miles, the closure of the neighboring Carson National Forest to all activity as a result and just the hint of nuclear holocaust at nearby Los Alamos combined to make Taos Valley's 2000 summer tourist season one to forget.

"To a large extent, the local economy is now fairly stable," Town of Taos Mayor Fred Peralta said, following the 2000-2001 ski season, one of the best in recent years. "That makes a lot of difference. But that just shows you how dependent our local economies are on the weather."

Media reports last summer that the entire state of New Mexico was on fire - fresh on the heels of the second poor ski season in a row -hit the tourist season hard. According to figures kept by the Taos Visitor Center, 18,895 fewer walk-in visitors- a fairly reliable indicator of tourism traffic in town -stopped by the center last summer as compared to the summer before, a drop of nearly 31 percent. In 1999, 61,819 (16,665 in June, 23,142 in July and 22,012 in August) visitors walked through the center's doors, compared to 42,924 (11,930, 16,353 and 14,641, respectively) in 2000.

"It's not what happened here but the perception out there of what happened here," Taos County Chamber of Commerce director Gayle Martinez said. "I was in Santa Fe, and people there even commented on how hot and dry they heard we were. I told them we are no hotter or drier than they were. That's the misperception. And they are just right down the road." Martinez admitted it was hard to counter the effects of the Cerro Grande and Viveash fire (near Las Vegas, NM) headlines on CNN or regional television newscasts titled "New Mexico on Fire."

"A lot of people thought we are burned to a crisp, that there was no reason to come," Martinez said. "There really wasn't anyone canceling their lodging reservations, but we didn't get the last-minute people."

Martinez said the high gas prices also had people very selective on where they spent their travel dollar. They wanted to go somewhere were there were a number of things to do. High gas prices may also have an impact on this year's summer season, according to the experts.

But by the end of the summer, with the fires out and the Carson National Forest reopened, Taos Town Manager Gus Cordova said that gross-receipts taxes in June and July were around 5 percent over the previous year. "It was a blast of fresh air, quite encouraging," Cordova said. "I don't know if that means we're going to bounce back, but I do hope it continues. Actually, any thing above the rate of inflation these days is cause for optimism."

Martinez said the chamber is now working with local governmental entities and other organizations in an effort to promote Taos, both in mailings and on the Internet, of the many things it has to offer. One chamber committee spent last July going door-to-door to raise $80,000 to hire Debbie Geiger and Associations, a Florida-based national public relations firm, "to influence (consumers) purchasing decisions through favorable editorial coverage," Geiger wrote in her media-marketing proposal to the chamber in May.

By the end of 2000, the town posted yearly revenues around $35.6 million, with expenditures at $30.7 million. And in a sign that the town's economic slump of the past two years may be easing, the town's gross-receipts taxes grew about 5.6 percent during the past 12 months.

Local ski resort owners are smiling, following one of the better ski seasons in quite some time. Drew Judycki, owner of Red River Ski Area, said his skiers numbers were up 5 percent this year over last. "In spite of what you heard from everyone else, last year was an OK year for us," Judycki said. "We had more snow this year, but as for the number of skiers, we've done over the past two years about what we expected."

Ned Stock, president of Angel Fire Resort, is more than happy with the 23-percent increase his resort experienced this year over last. In fact, Angel Fire had more skiers this year than it has had in the five years his company has owned the resort. "We had good snow all season long," Stock said. "But I think the difference this year was the flights we had twice a week between Taos and Dallas."

Missouri-based Ozark Air Lines began offering round-trip charter flights in January between Taos Municipal Airport and Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport. Angel Fire Resort and the Taos Ski Valley joined forces to bring the charter service to the area. The charter service was geared primarily toward tourists who wished to hit the area slopes. Flights to and from Taos were available on Thursdays and Sundays.

The Town of Taos, with around 6,000 residents - many whose ancestry can be traced back generations - is situated in a high mesa valley in Northern New Mexico, next to the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Taos County, home to around 25,000, includes the small communities of Questa, Red River, Costilla, Amalia, Pilar, Penasco and the ancient Taos Pueblo.