The Rural Towns Project Podcast
In the Rural Towns Project Podcast, Dax Jacobson combines his day job as a business professor with his love for the rural American West he grew up in. He talks to the people who are actually trying to make a living in - and to the researchers, artists, and others inspired by - the rural towns of the American West. He hopes to help himself and others understand the past, appreciate the present, and positively impact the future of rural towns and the American West.
The Rural Towns Project Podcast
Bluff (UT) is incredible. Allison Yamamoto-Sparks (Visitor Services Manager for San Juan County, UT) talks about the impact of Bears Ears, COVID, and the current economic climate on tourism (and shares recommendations!)
In this episode, I talk to Allison Yamamoto-Sparks, Visitor Services Manager for San Juan County, UT. Allison gives an overview of the geography of San Juan County/Utah’s Canyon Country and describes her role (a little bit of everything related to marketing and tourism for San Juan County). We talk about the county’s new “Head South to Go West” campaign and the evolution from casting a wide net to targeted marketing to places like Salt Lake City, Denver, Phoenix, Canada, France, and Germany.
Bears Ears is in San Juan County and we talk about the impact of the Bears Ears controversy on tourism and how COVID led her office to change from focusing only on destination marketing to destination management (educating people on how to recreate responsibly). We also talk about the impact of the current political climate on international tourism and finding the balance between tourism and growth and maintaining the identities of rural communities. Allison shares some lesser-known must-sees (Goosenecks State Park and the Moki Dugway) and hikes (Needles District of Canyonlands National Park). We end with one of my favorite Road Trip Music suggestions ever!
Podcast music: “A Happy Day” by codemusic, http://www.jamendo.com, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/