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Tourism as an Economic Development Tool (De Baca County)

Plan Goal

Create a greater state and county awareness of tourism as an economic development tool and the role that individuals, organizations and businesses plays in growing local tourism.

Situation Statement

The demographics of tourism in America are changing. The ever evolving tourist to New Mexico has long followed the call of outdoor recreational activities. REDTT remains a resource useful in the creation of alternative tourism enterprises in rural areas by working to help assess and identify the tourism amenities unique to a respective area.

DeBaca County is one of the seventeen counties with REDTT programming and a county REDTT Tourism Council. DeBaca County is rich in history and heritage, offering many unique and interesting tourist sites and activities including: the newly developed Bosque Redondo State Monument which is a tribute to the Navajo nations and the historical 'Long Walk'; A traditional Ranching and Rodeo heritage; a unique 'Wild West' flavor which draws enthusiast to the area in search of the outlaw 'Billy the Kid' and colorful stories and events surrounding his life and death; the Pecos River and State Park--Sumner Lake plus much more...

Education and awareness on how to maintain and enhance visitor experiences in DeBaca County through the REDTT progam remains critical to our rural area. As one of several partners in the local REDTT council, DeBaca CES will continue to be part of helping to support tourism and related economic development activities that, in turn, support the rural area economy.

Target Audience and Actions

A successful community tourism effort includes virtually everyone in a community either directly or indirectly. REDTT’s appeal is with groups and individuals of every ethnicity, economic status and age group. DeBaca County will assist other partners of the local tourism coucil by regularly attending tourism council meetings and assiting with the mini-grant process and other REDTT endeavors however possible.

Short-Term Objectives

*Attend monthly local REDTT council meetings to discuss the many possibilities of area rural tourism projects and activities;
*Bring back ideas from the state-wide REDTT meeting to local community and REDTT council members;
*Help to develop at least three mini-proposals for local REDTT programming that will target increased tourism to the county;
*Increase community knowledge of REDTT programming by regulary highlighting local and area tourism events and activities in county newspaper articles and organization newsletters;
*Increase state-wide awareness of local tourism activities by helping put together a mini-grant to fund the development of a traveling county display that highlights county and area attractions.
*Increase state-wide visibility of DeBaca county by developing and displaying a county agricultural and natural resource booth at the State Fair.
*Continue to enhance and increase tourism in DeBaca County and a neighboring county by hosting a joint-county tourism project.

Medium-Term Objectives

*Continue to formatively evaluate the needs of the community and local resources available for increasing tourism and related economic development through the local REDTT Council;
*Determine the satisfaction levels of individuals attending local REDTT functions by developing survey tools for each event and distributing to a percentage of the attendee's;
*Improve the state of tourist satisfaction with events as measured annually by the perception of the county REDTT council members;
*Increase positive perception of REDTT events by local community by highlighting local REDTT events on a regular basis;
*Assist the council and other local entities in seeking funding through additional sources that have potential to increase tourism in the county;

Long-Term Objectives

Continue to support an ongoing tourism council that adequately represents the diversity of the county and can build on itself, able to have a far reaching positive and ongoing effect on local and area tourism. Utilize ongoing input from community businesses that can assist the council in gauging the increase in tourim and claim that REDTT programming had a positive affect on their business.

Evaluation Plan

*Measurable objectives concerning input from the County Tourism Council will be assessed through yearly evaluations concerning REDTT programming;
*County REDTT and other Council Tourism sponsored events effectiveness concerning participant satisfaction will be measured through survey assessments of at least 10% of event participants;
*Event participation numbers will assess the success of tourism events--when possible, participants addresses will define how well the event drew out-of-county travelors to the area, ie--registration forms, entry forms, etc.
*On an annual basis, the county tourism council will formatively evaluate each activity and event sponsored and the effectiveness of the activity towards increasing tourism and related economic development.