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Vail Daily editorial: Mark your calendars

the Vail Daily Editorial Board

Hardly a day, week or month goes by when it isn’t “national (something) (day, week or month).” This week happens to be National Travel and Tourism Week.

According to the U.S. Travel Association’s website, this week was established in 1983 by a congressional resolution. The idea, apparently, is to recognize and promote the impact travel and tourism have on the nation’s economy.

That impact is particularly pronounced here in Colorado. According to the Colorado Tourism Office, visitors to our state spent $18.6 billion in 2014. That’s why the state funds a tourism office.



The effects are even more pronounced here in the Vail Valley, of course.

But, as you’d expect from something created by Congress, the timing of this celebratory week seems a bit odd. Kids are still in school during the first week of May, and, while many families have either planned or are planning summer vacations, the fact of the matter is we’re still weeks away from the coming leisure travel season.

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National Travel and Tourism Week falls at a particularly awkward time in the Vail Valley. Whether you call these few weeks between ski season and summer “mud season,” “value season,” or just May, the fact is our valley isn’t particularly busy right now. Our business is largely limited to much-welcomed groups, that often find that a few days in Vail in May can be less expensive than a few days in Denver. And there certainly isn’t much to get in the way of work.

Maybe the idea locally is to appreciate the impact of tourism during a time when we don’t have much of it.

On the other hand, if you’re going to have a week to celebrate tourism, maybe it’s best to hold it when travel and tourism professionals aren’t already occupied with all the things that go with busy times.

Still, if you’re going to hold a week to recognize the impact of tourism on the nation’s economy, wouldn’t it be better to perhaps do it in a way that recognizes at least some of the people who are doing the traveling?


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