JACKSON, Wyo. — The Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board is wrapping up Phase 3: Participatory Visioning and Planning of the Sustainable Destination Management Plan (SDMP) and is inviting the community to submit ideas to address the eight themes identified as top priorities.
Phase 1-2 of the SDMP planning process revealed these eight common priority issues among all stakeholders:
- There are no coordinated and holistic visitor management systems across all administrative entities: public lands, town, county and other tourism attractions
- There is no consistent responsible visitor education and communications
- Transportation (year-round) and traffic congestion in summer
- Lack of affordable and attainable workforce housing
- There is no permanent organization for destination management
- There is no destination-level, coordinated system for reviewing tourism sustainability data, interpreting impacts and issuing regular reports to the public
- Tourism workforce shortage
- No collaborative climate action efforts that educate and engage residents and visitors
Comments submitted through Aug. 31 will be considered in the September work sessions with the consultants from George Washington University and Confluence Sustainability, the SDMP steering committee, and stakeholders (government, land managers, community groups) already working on various initiatives such as housing and transportation. You can submit ideas via the Engage Teton County website.
The goal of the SDMP is to create a strategic roadmap to identify actionable objectives for managing tourism for the benefit of the environment, community, visitors, and generations to come. The management plan is facilitated by the Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Joint Powers Board in partnership with George Washington University and Confluence Sustainability.
