Amid ongoing tensions over how and when to propose new local taxes in Jackson and Teton County, a deeper question over how to best market the area to the world was revealed during a joint meeting of elected officials on Monday.
The Teton County Commission and the Jackson Town Council met to discuss putting a new lodging tax on the ballot for voter approval.
The meeting adjourned without any vote or formal decision, but what emerged were signs of a community struggling to meet demands for local services, disagreements over how best to raise money to meet those demands, and an ongoing dispute over whether Jackson still needs to promote itself as a destination.
During public comment on Monday, the chair of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Patrick Dominick, argued there are already plenty of visitors flooding into Teton County.
“We are not particularly in support of more visitors, and most of the people I've spoken to in the community feel like we have a sufficient number of visitors,” Dominick said, adding the Alliance does support tax dollars going toward “visitor management” and “responsible tourism.”
Data from the Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board indicates that average lodging occupancy rates are consistently around 80% during the peak summer season.
Jackson Town Councilwoman Devon Viehman referred to this peak season as "Angry August," because the consistent crowds of tourists stretch the patience of Jackson residents.
The councilwoman didn't overtly oppose the new lodging tax, but said, “I also have not heard from anyone in the lodging community that is actually supportive of this.”
She added, "I share the same concerns as a couple of my colleagues that people don't want to promote Jackson anymore. I mean, people are angry. August went on longer than normal."
Viehman referred to backlash in Spain against tourism, where in Barcelona, locals used water pistols against unsuspecting tourists. "We are a couple steps away from people with water guns and tourists here," she said during the joint meeting Monday. In a follow up with Cowboy State Daily, Viehman added, "Our locals are becoming increasingly frustrated with tourists and if we vote on a lodging tax to go on the ballot — will it have enough public support to pass?"
Managing the Message
The executive director of the Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board, Crista Valentino, told Cowboy State Daily that the conversation happening during the meeting was more nuanced than simply whether or not to keep promoting Jackson.
"It's not as black and white as that," Valentino said. "The idea of marketing and promotion has evolved a lot in the last 10, 15, 20 years. What we're trying to do when we say marketing and communications in general is exactly that: communicating to the world. And that's communicating who you are, the ethics and the values that you as a community hold."
She emphasized the need for the community to control its own narrative rather than ceding that power to outsiders.
"Do we want to be the ones that lead and control that message? Absolutely. We want to ensure that the story that we're telling, that the culture that we're trying to ensure, remains in Jackson," Valentino said.
"We're in the age of influencers,” she added. “And I would venture to guess that people would much prefer a group of local people who love this place and are committed to our community to develop and share information, rather than an influencer passing through.”
In other words, if Jackson doesn’t fund efforts to manage the image and message it projects to the outside world, then it’s missing an opportunity to express authentic, local priorities.
There are some in Jackson whose priority is, “We want heads in beds. All we want to do is promote 100 percent. But it’s not just us telling people to come or making sure the world knows about Jackson. It's so much deeper than that.”
Valentino described a spectrum of priorities working together, with local services enhancing the community and attracting a consistent stream of visitors, who then help pay for services and amenities like the START bus and trails system through local sales taxes.
The current debate over whether Jackson is too crowded is at least 30 years old, as the Travel and Tourism Board pointed out recently on its website. It cited a Newsweek magazine article from 1995 that quoted a local rancher lamenting, "I need to get out of this tourist country."
Voter Suspicion
Town Councilman Jonathan Schechter argued against rushing to pass another tax, insisting the public might be weary of local government again coming to them with its hand out.
Schechter said it’s clear: “Local government needs more money.”
But there’s a problem: "People don't trust local government, so unless something changes, they won't support raising taxes.”
Schechter said it would be wise to wait until the recently approved sales tax to pay for the justice center expires.
“How do we overcome the voter’s belief the government can’t be trusted?” asked Schechter, who suggested spending the next two years taking a hard look at the expense side of local budgets and not asking for any new money before then.
“It will make voters that much more suspicious of us,” he said, asserting the public will “vote against promoting additional tourism.”
Schechter then said he’s looking for a way to put a general sales tax before local voters in November 2028.
While debate over local taxes continues, so does a wider conversation about Jackson on social media and through different marketing channels.
"Do we see ourselves as storytellers and as those holders of that culture?” wondered Valentino. “Whether it's talking about the history of the land and the first peoples who came here or how much respect that the mountains deserve so that people are prepared to go into them.”
As opposed to “let's get heads in beds," said Valentino, marketing Jackson can mean, “How our local community achieves the priorities of a slow and kind way of life.”
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
