JACKSON, Wyo. — As tourism ramps up for the 2023/2024 winter season, the Jackson Hole Travel & Tourism Board (JHTTB) and the Destination Stewardship Council is moving forward with the implementation of the Sustainable Destination Management Plan (SDMP).
According to the JHTTB, the core purpose of the SDMP is to promote sustainable tourism, and it examines all the ways tourism is affecting the area—positively and negatively —with priority actions designed to support benefits and reduce or eliminate negative impacts. The SDMP responds to the most significant tourism related challenges ahead for Teton County.
The SDMP states that community feedback favored a new approach to tourism in Teton County. Most respondents of the 2022 Resident Sentiment Toward Tourism Survey said that tourism development is occurring too fast (85%), that they feel unheard (84%) and that they support planning and controls (90%). The business community also supports a greater focus on sustainable and responsible tourism and destination management.
The SDMP focuses on eight stewardship goals:
- Education and communication
- Visitor flow management
- Workforce recruitment and retention
- Community housing
- Transportation and mobility
- Climate action
- Monitoring and reporting
- Governance
Priority action items within each stewardship goal focuses on Jackson Hole’s businesses, community and the surrounding wilderness. In addition to the marketing / education and transit working groups, the Destination Stewardship Council is coordinating with existing community collaboratives on housing and climate action.
“We have listened carefully to those resident concerns and the concerns of all stakeholder groups, and have responded with an all-lands, all-communities plan for sustainability,” JHTTB wrote in the SDMP. “In late 2021 we began looking at past and present circumstances to understand and determine the best steps forward as a united community. Since then, we have methodically completed every aspect of successful sustainable destination management planning, and that planning has been participatory at every step.”
The SDMP projects out until 2027. More information about the plan can be seen here.
