Big Sky’s destination strategy sessions aim to spark connection, educate about goals of tourism
By Jen Clancey DIGITAL PRODUCER
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story stated that ECOnorthwest was a collaborative partner in the strategy session. ECOnorthwest was a partner for the destination research only, not the strategy session.
Clear rivers, mountain landscapes and snow are among the reasons visitors come to Big Sky. The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem draws thousands of visitors every year, bringing with them increased traffic, crowds and a demand for resources. These valuable resources are also why community members met at Big Sky Chapel last week for a compelling conversation about climate action and tourism.
On Tuesday, March 19, community members brainstormed how Big Sky can continue to welcome visitors, while encouraging and enforcing environmentally friendly practices. The event was organized by Visit Big Sky in collaboration with Crosscurrent Collective.
The session was the first of four, and at each event, a field expert will present data relevant to world and national trends, then offer solutions for what sustainability looks like in Big Sky. After the presentation, attendees collaborated in a group discussion.
Jeremy Sampson with the Travel Foundation, a nonprofit that studies tourism trends, presented data about global trends in air travel, carbon emissions and the way resort towns have worked to protect the natural environment.
“I think the most important thing to come out of [the study] is actually not always the strategy itself, rather, the alignment of the stakeholders,” Sampson said after the session. He offered Lake Tahoe as an example.
“It was really contentious, actually,” he said of the process for the California-Nevada resort community. “There were quite a lot of passionate actors with sometimes competing agendas.”
Eventually, state, federal and local agencies, along with public and private partners agreed on a plan of climate resilience and presented it in February 2022. The Lake Tahoe Climate Resilience Action Strategy aims to advance equity, build protections for Tahoe’s basin so that the area can continue to thrive.
Sampson sees this kind of teamwork as a possible avenue for Big Sky. “The hard work was actually coming together to find, what’s that common agenda,” Sampson said. “I do feel that here. Either that work has already been done, or that there is already a shared sense of place and responsibility and civility.”
He explained that normal operations are a great start but there is opportunity to push toward more challenging goals in sustainability. Kristin Dahl, founder and CEO of Crosscurrent Collective, a Hood River, Oregon-based tourism consultant, led conversations and brainstorm sessions at the event, eventually funneling ideas into action items that Big Sky can implement.
A topic that came up often in group discussions was the use and improvement of public transportation, support of seasonal and year-round employees, and marketing to educate visitors on how to take care of Big Sky during their vacations.
“It’s a tricky place for these communities to be in,” Sampson said. “You can’t even talk about a thriving tourism economy without having a workforce … or places for people to live.”
Sampson has worked with destinations across the globe to facilitate conversations about solutions for tourism and the natural environment. He believes Big Sky’s prospects for a more sustainable future are promising.
“In ways I wasn’t even expecting, there’s some real front running thinking already happening and some good alignment among the people,” Sampson reflected. “Tourism all over the world is reinventing itself … I think there’s a good opportunity to make that happen here.”
Three more sessions hosted by Visit Big Sky will explore other aspects of tourism, including outdoor recreation, on April 23, May 6 and May 7. The strategy sessions are free, run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Big Sky Chapel, and lunch is included with registration.
