Sustainable Today, Successful Tomorrow
In “Sustainable today, successful tomorrow” Anne and Rik (Good Tourism Institute) explore real-world sustainable tourism stories that actually work.
Sustainable Today, Successful Tomorrow
Sustainability year-round in Vail 🏔️
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What does destination sustainability look like year-round? 🏔️
In this episode of Sustainable Today, Successful Tomorrow, Anne sits down with Beth Markham, Environmental Sustainability Manager for the Town of Vail.
They explore how one of the best-known ski destinations in the U.S. is tackling sustainability far beyond the slopes. ⛷️
From tourism pressure and housing challenges to resident engagement and visitor behaviour, Beth shares how Vail is building a long-term strategy that works for both community and environment. 🌿
It’s a story of local leadership, practical solutions, and small shifts that add up.
If you're curious how destinations can lead with sustainability in every season, this episode is for you. 🎧
Anne: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Sustainable Today. Successful tomorrow, where we explore real world sustainable tourism stories that actually work.
Anne: In our last episode, we already shared a few highlights from my interview with Beth Sustainability, environmental Manager at Town of Vail, a popular ski destination in the Rocky Mountains. Today, I'm excited to bring you the entire interview. Beth and I talked about how they balance sustainability in a popular ski mountain destination with year-round visitors and how they get their sustainability message across.
Anne: I really enjoyed the conversation and I hope you get as much out of it as we did. I hope you enjoy.
Anne: so right in the heart of the Rocky Mountains bill is more than just a ski destination. It's a mountain resort community known for its breathtaking landscape, year-round tourism [00:01:00] and deep commitment to sustainability. But how do you balance sustainability in such a popular mountain destination that attracts lots of travelers all year round?
Anne: And how do you communicate this? Today I'm sitting down with Beth Markham, the environmental sustainability manager at town of va. Committed to preserving, real's, natural beauty, leading projects that protect the destination and inspire visitors to do the same. Thank you so much for being here, Beth. I'm very excited to have you on the podcast today.
Beth: Thank you so much for having me, Anne. It's an honor to be with you and to share a little bit about Vail's story.
Anne: All right, great. Let's get started, and here's a big question to open. So how does Phil both invite guests all year round and protect his wilderness, and how do you get that message across?
Beth: That's a very good question, Anne. Vail is a very small town, but we are surrounded by two different mountain [00:02:00] ranges, the Swatch range and the Gore range, and, completely surrounded by public lands. And so it is so important that as we welcome about 3.7 million visitors each year to Vail, that they have a good understanding of how they can be good visitors and take care of the land, as our locals do.
Beth: And so, you know, we, we have about 5,000 year-round residents that are full-time and another 5,000 or so part-time, second homeowner residents that come in. And so when we see this influx of visitation, it's really important to communicate how they can best take care of this place. We communicate several different ways.
Beth: We have a lot of pre-arrival information through our destination marketing organization called Discover Vail, that shares a lot of great tips and tricks on how a visitor can, lessen their impact while they're here, whether it is arriving [00:03:00] in Vail without a car and using all of our great public transportation bike programs, and very pedestrian friendly villages to get around.
Beth: we also have a Love Vail campaign where, we are inspiring not only our local residents, but also visitors to, explore, discover. While they love, you know, learn to love this place, they can also learn how they can care for it and take that home with them, as well, so that they can apply what they're learning here in Vail to where they're going wherever that is.
Beth: but we have a lot of different opportunities as well, and I'm sure we'll be able to dive into some of those, more specific, different, learning opportunities for visitors as well as residents alike.
Anne: No. Absolutely. And then before we do that, can you tell us a bit more about Vil itself? So it's, in between mountain range in the Rocky Mountains, but what kind of destination is it? And what are specific highlights of Vail?
Beth: [00:04:00] Vail was a, is actually a relatively young town. we were founded. In 1962 as a mountain resort. So Vail Mountain, was developed, by some, folks that were in World War II that were over in Europe, were inspired by some of the ski areas there, and came back to Vail where they had trained and thought that this would be a really great area to develop a ski resort.
Beth: And so in 1962, Vail Mountain was born.
Beth: So we're fairly young and as a young town. we grew relatively quickly and so we get a lot of folks that come from around the state of Colorado, around other regions of the United States and throughout the world, who come here for the great skiing and snowboarding that Vail Mountain has to offer in the winter.
Beth: We have incredible snow that falls, we have about 300 [00:05:00] days a year of sunshine, which makes it just a really lovely place to be. And so while we started as a winter destination, we have really transitioned into a year round destination. The adventurous folks that come here to explore and play, have found that the trails are incredible for hiking, for mountain biking, that there's incredible, rivers and creeks here,
Beth: excellent for fly fishing. so there's just whatever your interests are, in the outdoors, you can find that here in
Anne: you have it?
Beth: and so it's a pretty, it's a pretty awesome, opportunity in place to come and we're really fortunate. it's a pretty unique, situation.
Beth: Within 10 minutes as you're hiking, you can find yourself in designated wilderness.
Anne: So you're saying that, Vail's now also very popular in summer. Was this an intentional shift or did it grow naturally? over time?
Beth: So I think it did [00:06:00] grow naturally over time, but it was in, around 2010 is when we really started to see this shift and more and more people were coming to recreate in the summer. And All of a sudden we had two really busy seasons. Winter was super busy, summer was super busy. And so we also made the intentional decision then to start to market to some of our less busy seasons, to try to spread that visitation out over the entire year.
Beth: so it wasn't so heavily impacted in just that summer and winter season.
Anne: Yeah. So you have to really, yeah, make sure that you protect what you said, the wilderness, and that it's not, overrun by travelers too much. but what do you think is the most popular season? Is that still winter?
Beth: Yes. I think we still have higher visitation in the winter, but summer is rapidly catching up. The saying is, at least for a lot of locals, you'll come for a winter. You'll fall in love and then you end up staying [00:07:00] because the summers are so incredible.
Beth: fall is my personal favorite time of the year. the as finleys are golden and beautiful and it's lovely. All of the seasons are starting to see that shift, so it's a little bit more spread out and a little bit more even. But I would say winter is definitely still our top draw.
Anne: the town of Vail was actually founded to be a ski resort. So that does make sense. and then do you also already start promoting summer, to people visiting in winter, like on site, or how does that work?
Beth: So our Discover Vale's, our destination marketing organization, and they do a really great job of, really highlighting the summer aspects. as folks are here in the winter. we do find a slightly different, visitor base between the winter and the summer, but there is also still some overlap.
Beth: the Vail Mountain, which is operated by Vail Resorts. They do a lot of our winter marketing and then discover Vail, town of Vail's, [00:08:00] destination marketing organization does a lot on our marketing and then the shoulder seats and or the off season marketing as well. And that starts now. I guess we're in the summer now, so winter the people are already like getting some winter ads and things like that to, to start planning those winter vacations.
Beth: but we're also, once the winter hits, it, winter is long, it can be cold and snowy here. And so a little glimpse of summer to come is always a nice little hook to, to try to get people to consider coming back in the summer month.
Anne: Yeah, I can imagine. You say Target, different kind of traveler for winter and summer, but what is the exact traveler that you, are trying to attract?
Beth: Vail is a certified sustainable destination. And sustainability is something that has been important to us since the founding charter.When you're here, you look around and you can understand why.
Beth: So we really wanna bring, visitors who resonate with that environmental stewardship message and [00:09:00] that sustainability message, and who are, are looking to come to a place that does care and prioritize sustainability. so we do find in the winter that we tend to bring more international travelers as well as other, markets in the United States, from other places like New York, Chicago, Texas, Dallas,other areas in California and things, as well as Miami and Mexico.
Beth: We do tend to bring in more international travelers who wanna stay for a longer period of time in the winter. And then in the summer we tend to see, more visitation from people who can drive here or who are a little bit closer to us. but that's starting to expand as well, and we're starting to see that market,kind of explode and more visitors coming as well. Also, the summer travelers we find tend to be a little bit more, the winter visitors are looking a little bit more for that luxury vacation, that luxury, ski and ski [00:10:00] out,you know, coming for some great shopping as well as dining and, culinary experiences.
Beth: And I think a lot of our summer visitors are coming for some of the other experiences, a lot of the other adventurous opportunities to really get out and explore, the wilderness areas and the mountains. Um, but then also we have a lot of really great music that comes through, in the, in the summer months.
Beth: So what kind of activities or experiences do you think are more, most popular in summer and how do you, do they compliment what you offer in Windsor or the other way around?
Beth: I think all of the experiences that are offered in Vail, whether it's hiking, mountain biking, in the summer months, or road biking, even fly fishing, going out on excursions to try to find wildlife and get out with a photographer and try to get some, capture, some incredible, [00:11:00] imagery.
Beth: So really, I think the biggest differences are whether you're coming here in the winter for the snow sports, whether you're coming to ski or snowboard or go, on a dog sledding expedition or snowmobiling, or if you're coming in the summer for more of those warm weather activities.
Beth: So there's something for everyone.
Beth: That sounds really amazing. And also I think what I really like is that you focus on entertaining or facilitating a great experience for the residents as well. You have to really focus on Yeah, both. 'cause you do, you have a quite small community, but do you feel the community is, participating or connecting?
Anne: Like how happy are they with the millions of travelers, coming in each
Beth: Yeah, that, that's a great question. our Vail community is small, like I said, 5,000 year round residents, another 5,000 part-time seasonal residents that come in and out. And I think that the town of Vail and the Vail destination is a whole, does a great job of connecting the [00:12:00] community with the visitors, and vice versa.
Beth: and providing opportunities for both to come together and learn from each other.
Beth: I. I think that there is a pretty, a vibrant community that we're trying to really improve that, we have challenges with housing. affordable housing is a real challenge here in Vail. And so the town is investing a lot of money right now into some big affordable housing projects so that we're not just having housing for, seasonal workers who are coming in to help facilitate all these experiences, whether they're working in hospitality or, out on the mountain, or as a fly fishing guide.
Beth: But so that we are also allowing those, employees to kind of grow up here and to start families and to have a home here in Vail so that they can live right in the community. Currently, a lot of our workforce travels in from, other areas that are. 30 or 40 miles away. [00:13:00] And you know that's another piece of the sustainability puzzle.
Beth: If everyone is commuting in and out of Vail every day to and from work. How are we able to really build that community. We're really focused on how we can make Vail a community-oriented place where people want to live, making it a, an affordable place for people to live. And then if people are living outside of Vail, how can we inspire them to come to Vail using alternative transportation?
Beth: Whether it's our incredible free bus system, some of our really cool bike programs that we have going on are awesome, bike paths that are easy to get in and out, especially in the summer. So we're really trying to, encourage that, that local community. We developed a destination management plan, a few years ago.
Beth: And in that plan, we defined community really as anyone who loves Vail and has a place here, whether that [00:14:00] is a year-round resident, whether that is a visitor who's coming here once for their, for a visit or whether they are returners and come back year after year. But also we're incorporating in that definition the wildlife in the natural ecosystem around us because they rely heavily on the natural world around us.
Beth: Obviously, this is their habitat. This is their home. The humans came in after them and are, and so our community is made up of the entire natural as well as human ecosystem.
Anne: Yeah, that was a lot of information at once. but thank you so much for sharing, and I do have a few questions, especially also about what, you said you're investing in housing, but then do you have like requirements for people, having to stay year round, for example? That only the people that want to stay long term are able to rent or to buy.
Beth: So in a lot of the housing projects that we have going on right now, as well as some that are, [00:15:00] already been developed, they are what is referred to as deed restricted. And that deed restriction, has a requirement that you have to live and work, in Vail or Eagle County, which is our surrounding county, at least 30 hours, a week and year round.
Beth: You can't rent that housing out to somebody else who would be a visitor. You can't turn it into a short-term rental situation. so it is intended for those year round residents who are truly living and working here and helping to make this tourism destination thrive.
Anne: I think we see that in a lot of destinations that there is a housing problem, for people that want to live there permanently. So really good that you're actually investing or actually a knowledge in the problem, and in really doing something about it.
Anne: and then you also mentioned you have a three year round bus service. Can you, tell us a little bit more about that?
Beth: Sure. so the town of Vail has one of the largest [00:16:00] free bus systems, in North America. We operate. 365 days a year. depending on the season, you can get a bus, anywhere from every five minutes to every 30 minutes. we have an in town bus that kind of hits our core village areas.
Beth: And then we have outlying buses that come in from Eastvale and Westvale to the center of town. so we're really able to transport people. so it's really easy to come here and not have a car. and then our, we have a regional, transit, authority as well. It's called Core Transit, and it was formed a couple of years ago.
Beth: We did have a previous bus system that was a regional bus system, but it was a, you had to pay for that bus and, through a ballot initiative, we now have a tax,a half a cent. tax, throughout our county that funds our core transit system, which has made the majority [00:17:00] of transit fair free. So year round, fair free transit for folks that are coming in from outlying areas of our county as well.
Anne: I was just wondering, do you see it actually works? are there more people, coming in without their own car? is it reliable enough for people to, to do that?
Beth: It is, Americans in particular are very car-centric and everyone likes to have that car, right? but I think we are seeing an increase in ridership on our own veils transportation system as well as that regional system. It has increased greatly since that free transit has come about.
Beth: so we are seeing more and more people leave their cars behind and come to Vail on the bus.
Beth: So it's really helping to make Vail a place where you don't need a car. we also, during the summer months, have an electric bike share program. So you can hop on an e-bike and get pretty much anywhere within Vail, but it's a regional system still. So you can go to some of the outlying towns on that, [00:18:00] on those bikes as well.
Beth: And right now we're in the process of developing a car share program so that the, some of these new housing projects were, we're trying to inspire people to purchase or rent at these new projects when they come online. And the next, six months to two years to come without a vehicle because there's a car share program, three buses, bike programs.
Beth: And so we're really trying to make the transportation as, friendly as possible to get away without having a car.
Anne: Exactly. And then do you feel you are doing this mainly because you want to reduce the carbon footprint or do you also have like infrastructure issues when there are too many cars?
Beth: It's a combination of the two. transportation is Vail's second leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions.
Beth: But, we are trying to reduce those transportation related emissions. And and really [00:19:00] educating people about the importance of trying to reduce their carbon footprint, by alternative transportation is one way that we can do that.
Beth: But then you asked about infrastructure and Vail only has a handful of parking.
Beth: And so the parking infrastructure is limited. And so that is another issue. We're trying to reduce that parking congestion and while also reducing those greenhouse gas emissions.
Anne: Well that's a challenging task. I think it's really good that you're approaching it from both sides. It's to really also increase the, visitor experience, but at the same time tackling these issues. you also have a lot of wilderness around vil, so what are some examples of nature, conservation projects that you have been working on?
Beth: We have several, different, projects going on. one of our big projects that has been going on since 2016 is our restore, the Gore initiative. Gore Creek is the river that flows through Vail. It's the lifeblood of Vail.
Beth: And we [00:20:00] have re-vegetated a, the banks of Gore Creek. we have replanted about 26,000 native trees and shrubs to help,the stream bank and that riparian habitat,come back to life.
Beth: and throughout the surrounding lands, we are also doing quite a bit of restoration work.
Beth: and then on our public lands, we work really closely with the United States Forest Service, as well as Vail Resorts, on a lot of different initiatives, whether it's trail work and rehabilitating.
Beth: some of our really, over loved trails that are here. I mentioned we are. Really close to wilderness. And some of our wilderness trails are incredibly beautiful, but also incredibly utilized. And we've seen more and more people out on those trails. So we have trail ambassadors at some of those popular trail heads that educate on the importance of leave no trace, practices and trail [00:21:00] etiquette.
Beth: if you're bringing your dog to hike, the importance of keeping it on a leash and picking up their dog poop, making sure they're picking up their own trash, as they go and really minimizing their own footprint, on those trails. But we do a lot of work too with the Forest Service on not only the trail maintenance, but also on, making sure that the habitat is healthy and that there's a lot of, Forage for the wildlife, whether we do that through some burns, which also can help to minimize some of the wildfire,impacts or challenges that might arise.
Anne: Exactly. And then when you say,that the trails are getting, a lot busier. do you have the opportunity, for example, to create more trails or are there trails that could use a bit more promotion to kind of spread, the tourists where possible?
Beth: Absolutely. you know, it's always a balance of creating a new trail, which is going to impact habitat and it's gonna impact, some of those natural areas, versus exactly what you just suggested of [00:22:00] marketing some of our lesser used trails. And so that is one of our, approaches, is to really highlight some of the trails, whether they're on the trails, on Vail Mountain or some of the more underutilized trails, and trying to draw people out off of and away from some of those more popular wilderness trails so that they have a chance to revegetate and to really recover a bit from some of that, overuse.
Beth: one of our most popular trails, it was, it's in the wilderness. It's about a mile and a half hike to a beautiful waterfall. So a lot of people were going there. We were having a lot of issues with too many people on the trails, overcrowding in the parking lots. And so we ended up closing down that parking lot and you can no longer drive and park there.
Beth: You have to take the bus or ride a bike to get there or get dropped off, and we've seen a decrease using that tactic. We've also seen a decrease in the usage of that particular [00:23:00] trail and allowing it to get back to more of its natural state.
Anne: yeah. I think,it quite easy to kind of distinguish the traveler that actually wants to go out for nature and really make an adventure out of it, versus the ones that just convenient to do like a small hike
Anne: I think that's a really good strategy. Um, and also like how safe are the nature trails? are there any issues with wildlife and hikers, for example?
Beth: So, you know, we, we are living in a habitat essentially, right? And we do have mountain lions, we have bears, black bears in particular. And we have a lot of other wildlife moose and elk, and deer. And so we do have to do a lot of education, with visitors and residents as well of how to safely interact with wildlife.
Beth: What to do if you do encounter a mountain lion or you know that it's not a good idea to go and try to take a selfie with a bear. If you find yourself near a moose, don't go closer. [00:24:00] They actually can get spooked pretty easily. And so what to do when you do interact and you do see wildlife backing off, giving them space,
Anne: And then do you have a monitoring, program to kind of see what's the impact on wildlife? when there are so many visitors year round.
Beth: The state organization, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, they do quite a bit of monitoring, of wildlife populations.
Beth: We have seasonal trail closures as well for trails that are, really critical habitat for, migrating deer and elk. So whether they're migrating or whether they're in their calving stages, we close specific trails to humans so that they have the space to do what they need to do.
Beth: and we have wildlife cameras. and they can monitor, violations on those trails, but then they can also monitor some of the populations of the wildlife and see how they're doing as well.
Anne: Yeah. And I guess that's a really important, part of managing a destination that [00:25:00] receives so many visitors to really make sure that you said residents, wildlife, nature, all continues to thrive even though there are so many people enjoying it at the same time. thinking about enjoying it in the future, do you already notice climate change in Vail?
Beth: So we have seen some impacts as climate change, here in Vail. So one, one of the most recognizable one, we have about 23 on average, fewer frost free days. So days where we're hitting freezing temperatures, here through our winters. So our winters are getting a little shorter.
Beth: Our summers are getting longer, but those frost days are so important, those freezing days because our snow pack that we get is so critical. It is our water source. and not just our water source, but we are part of the headwaters of the Colorado River, which as I mentioned, feeds water to seven different states.
Beth: And [00:26:00] so they're downstream. They're definitely noticing, a decline in the amount of water available. but with fewer days of freezing that we're experiencing, our snow snowpack melts faster. It melts earlier, and the faster and earlier the snowpack melts out. the drier. Our conditions are, and we are also seeing about a two degree Fahrenheit increase on average in temperatures than we saw about 30 years ago.
Beth: And even with that increase, we're seeing, higher rates of drought, and things along those lines.
Beth: yes, unfortunately we are already seeing the impacts. our alpine zone is getting higher and higher.
Beth: So our zone above where trees grow on that alpine region, we're seeing greater impacts to the flora, the plants and the animals that are living up there. And we're seeing that go, get higher in elevation. we're just seeing, kinda seeing a change in our ecosystem as well.
Anne: Interesting that you can already, you can really track it like over the 30 [00:27:00] years that you'd have so many changes, that are so visible actually, if you really pay attention to what's happening. and then because you're a ski, resort, you need a lot of snow for, for people being able to ski.
Anne: I'm assuming you're using snow cannons. how do you balance that with being a sustainable destination?
Beth: Vail Resorts, which operates Vail Mountain, they actually are highly committed to, they have a commitment to zero. And so a lot of their, I believe a hundred percent of their North American operations are powered by renewable energy. At this point, and so made huge upgrades to their snowmaking equipment so that it is far more efficient and needs to use, less water.
Beth: but at the same time, in our pedestrian villages, we're actually heating the streets to melt the snow.
Beth: so that pedestrians have, safer passage and there's not a lot of, ice and snow on the walkways and that [00:28:00] there's not a lot of slip and falls. And as the town of Vail's operations go, that is our highest, Input of greenhouse gas emissions. And so right now we're really working to decarbonize that system and we're partnering with several different organizations and local entities, to try to find a way to create a thermal energy network, and tap into our geothermal energy that we have available to us and utilizing excess waste heat those methods to heat the streets.
Beth: I will add we're super fortunate. We have an incredible electric company, holy Cross Energy. currently about 80% of the entire grid here in Vail in a lot of the surrounding Eagle County areas, is already renewable. And, they have a goal of a hundred percent renewable electricity by 2030, and they're on track to meet that.
Beth: And [00:29:00] so we're really doing as, as much as we can to go down the electrification route and , wean our systems and our buildings and,our different operations off of natural gas. And to tap into that, electrification of all of the energy needs.
Anne: I think this is also a good example of like sustainable destination management is a lot easier if you have all this infrastructure ready to use. Different topic, but do you feel that having visitors year round makes sustainability management easier or more challenging?
Beth: I think it's more challenging because we just have so many visitors all of the time. and it, there's an impact there, right? And so I. Making sure we have the systems in place to minimize and mitigate those impacts is critical, especially at some of those key attractions. And when you're constantly, bringing people in and hosting, 3.7 million people every year, there's not always a [00:30:00] lot of time to then stop, look at what's working, what's not working, and then find new ways to improve upon different processes.
Beth: And so the more consistently things get, impacted, the harder that is to mitigate and manage.
Anne: And do you think that because of your own marketing you have less, shoulder season that is kind of year round? Or did this also grow naturally
Beth: I think it, it was a little bit of both. I think at first it was a little bit more of the marketing. The intention was to spread that visitation out and we did a good job with that successfully. And so now we're just seeing more and more visitation throughout each of those seasons, especially in the fall, which used to be a little bit more of a downtime.
Beth: it's almost just as busy as summertime. Maybe we marketed our year round destination a little too well. and so now we're, just having to get really creative with solutions.
Anne: Yeah. Because do you [00:31:00] feel it would've been better to have, a bit more specific seasons and then a lower, low pace, season. What do you think would be best for avail? I.
Beth: It's a good question. I think having, the year-round nature of things really helps to drive the economy, which is a good thing. It is stable. but at the same time, do have that consistent impact. However, I do think spreading that impact out over the year is still better than having a lot of impact in two shorter seasons.
Anne: Yeah. No, I think so too. And I think as long as you have, you don't really have too many peaks, so I guess you're kind of able to, really prepare for what is coming or what's already there. I think that makes sense. but do you feel that Vil is experiencing over tourism.
Beth: I would say yes, we are. Vail was initially certified, as a sustainable destination in 2018, we had about 2.5 million visitors. We [00:32:00] were estimating that were coming on an annual basis and in under a decade that has grown to 3.7 million. And we're really seeing some of those impacts, whether it's, more crowded, ski runs in the winter and longer lift lines, which Vail Resorts has done a really good job of finding ways to spread that out on the mountain as well to reduce that impact, to people's experiences.
Beth: In the summer months, the trail usage and as I mentioned, some of those really heavy usage days on those, wilderness trails in particular. So I think that we are seeing a lot of, Peaks of overt tourism, and then there are certain times through the year that a lot of our, even our locals are like, I'm staying out.
Beth: I'm not coming into town. There's just too many people, so, yes, I would say we have experienced overt tourism here,
Anne: Yeah. But then do you have measures in place? 'cause I'm assuming you have like , a bed cap. Are there more ways to limit [00:33:00] visitors to put a stop to it at some point? Like carrying capacity?
Beth: Carrying capacity is something that we talk a lot about and really trying to identify what is that specific carrying capacity here at Vail. And that is something that we are working on trying to determine exactly what that looks like and how we're going to, employ, once that comes about.
Beth: But you are right, there are only so many beds, so there's only so many visitor nights that, that folks can be here. We're looking at opportunities to try to, how can we work on managing some of the short-term rental properties that are here at Vail and how can we try to ensure that we do have enough housing and beds for our locals and our residents,and trying to spread that out a little bit more.
Beth: And hopefully that will minimize and mitigate some of those, those really heavy periods.
Beth: and I think that they'll have great opportunities to Transition marketing, where we're marketing, who we're marketing [00:34:00] to, and how we're marketing to, to try to mitigate some of those, over tourism impacts.
Anne: Yeah, because you say like you do a lot of communication, also regarding, trails and to, not leave any traces. Like what, what kind of messaging do you think resonates most with travelers and what channels do you use?
Beth: We had different channels,our Discover Vail, DMO has a website, but they also,when people come to Veil. We have, free wifi here if you provide your email address. And so that's one way that we're able, that's one way that we're able to send direct information to visitors. it's also one way that we're able to collect survey data so we know who's here and then we can send them a survey and follow up on different things to see how their experience was.
Anne: Do you have a high response rate? Do you
Beth: yeah, we, it is a relative I for a survey. I do think it's a, it's pretty [00:35:00] high. I don't know that, what that percentage is off the top of my head, but, we do get enough response. We do send out a couple surveys every year. and then we also survey visitors kind of as they're here, once they leave.
Beth: we do get a lot of feedback and a lot of data. I. We do a community survey to our residents, every two years. And so we collect a lot of great data that way. Once we have that email address from folks, we're able to send out,targeted messaging and targeted information based on what their interests are, why they're here, why are they visiting Vail, and we can send specific details to them that way.
Beth: How can they get involved? Is there a volunteer day where they can come out and help plant? Is there an opportunity to donate to one of our conservation programs so that, we can continue doing important conservation work?
Beth: we pop things out on social media, whether it's Instagram or Facebook.
Beth: and maybe a little story, we will take an [00:36:00] opportunity of a teachable moment on how to recycle something properly. or maybe to highlight at all of our special events we require, zero waste. So we have these tents and education at each of those tents that have a trash recycling and compost.
Beth: Container and somebody who's educating the visitor on where the proper,item goes. And so maybe there's an opportunity there to tell a story an Instagram story or something of Hey, here's how we do it in Vail. How do you do it in your neck of the woods? Or whatever it is.
Beth: and then we're also right now working on a series, of like capturing our locals doing it, right?
Beth: and then sharing that out with our visiting population as well. come to Vail. Visit like a local, here are the things that you can do, bring your reusable water bottle. We have incredible drinking water, so like messaging like that.
Beth: letting people know our tap water safe [00:37:00] fresh from the mountains, fresh from the snow, and, you don't need to buy shing use plastic water bottles. So yeah,
Anne: Yeah, exactly. And then the response has been positive.
Beth: But I think it's really good that, let's say like if, the whole thing about communicating sustainability is doing it in a way that appeals to your traveler, and that they actually resonate with it. So what you say, like captivating local live and to really encourage people to do the same.
Anne: I think that's a really good,strategy. And, what do you think has been the toughest part of making sustainability work in such a busy tourism hub? And then especially, like what role has marketing played into that?
Beth: I think that just the seasonal nature, of our workforce, getting businesses to, get involved in a lot of our sustainability efforts,it's tough to change your practices. It's tough to change how you're doing things. And when you have new employees every, couple times a year, educating and teaching and training is a [00:38:00] difficult thing.
Beth: You know, visitors when they come, they've got that vacation mindset. They're here to have fun. they don't wanna have to think about what to do with their trash or their recycling they're here to have a good time, And experience all that Vail has to offer.
Beth: And so we have to find ways to, make them,
Anne: Make it easy. and
Beth: it easy, convenient, and make whatever message we have out there resonate with as large of a population as possible.
Anne: And then do you have an example of like a campaign, around such a sustainability topic that worked really well that, resonated a lot?
Beth: I would say our Restore the Gore, campaign is one that really does resonate. It's the, the protect the creek. Help us to restore the health of Gore Creek and, We have pretty cute little stickers that we give out. We do a, what's called a lunch with the local series.
Beth: And, once a month we have, an educational topic on the watershed health in [00:39:00] general, or a different sustainability topic, but it all falls under this Restore the Gore umbrella. And we provide a free lunch and we market it not just to the locals, but to the visitors that are here too. So come have a free lunch and learn what we're doing here and learn how you can get involved in help.
Beth: I think that's been one of the most successful campaigns that we've seen. we're, right now we're rebranding our Love Veil campaign, so it used to be a little bit more of a message to our residents on. Here are the sustainability programs and sustainability initiatives that you can get involved with.
Beth: but how we're rebranding, it's about looking at not just the local, but also the visitor and creating this like sustainability and community-oriented, messaging around how we can all rally together to protect what we love here in Vail. So it'll be fun. It'll be fun to see how that plays out, as that gets [00:40:00] rolled out this year.
Anne: yeah. No, I can't wait to read that as well. I think it's, I think it's very impressive to see what you're doing in terms of balancing sustainability in such a busy destination, but focusing on. Sustainability while doing it because
Beth: I think it shows that you're really committed to doing it. all the measures you have put in place, how you're communicating it, and that you're really on top of things, you very much. I,
Anne: And you're very welcome.
Beth: It's great to get that feedback because it's, it feels oftentimes it's like an uVaill battle, to engage everyone that we need to engage and to get everybody, on board. And we're just doing the best we can with the resources that we have, and really just trying to spread the message of how can we all protect what we love and make sure it's here, not just for us, but for future gener,
Anne: Yeah. Yeah, I think you're doing that really well. So what advice would you give to other destinations, that wants to balance high fi numbers with real sustainability?
Beth: find the low hanging fruit, find some of the things that are a [00:41:00] little easy to get engaged with and involved with, and to rally your visitors around. for us, one of the very first things that we did was all about waste diversion and in a recycling program. and then that grew into a composting program, and then that grew into a sustainable business program called Actively Green, where we work with local businesses to reduce their waste, reduce their energy usage, improve their overall sustainability practices, and then that is actually what grew into us becoming a sustainable destination.
Beth: And so I would say find something that is, not too daunting to get started with. And once you start knocking one thing out, the next thing just falls into place. And start small and see how you can grow from there.
Beth: and you don't have to reinvent the wheel. There are so many destinations out there that are doing incredible work. definitely beyond Vail. I look to some of our peer communities, like the town of Breckenridge, the city of [00:42:00] Aspen, park City, Utah, as well as other, global destinations who are already doing incredible work and learning from them, seeing what they're doing and trying that out.
Beth: you don't have to start from scratch. There's probably someone out there doing it already and you can, just reach out and see how you can integrate what they're doing in your destination.
Anne: Yeah. Great. Beth, thank you so much for sharing your insight. It was really interesting to learn more about everything you're doing in, yeah, I can't wait to hear more also about your campaign. And for now, thank you so much for joining
Beth: Thank you so much for having me today, Ann, it's been a real pleasure to talk with you and, it's been to get to share sustainability story with you, so thank you so much for.
Anne: I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I did. I. There is so much we can learn from front runner destinations such as V that prioritize sustainability and balance it very well with attracting visitors year round.
Anne: If you're enjoying the podcast, like and share [00:43:00] this episode and don't forget to subscribe to our channel. Do not miss any future episodes. For now, thank you for listening and hope to see you next time.