CB chamber seeks future as a ‘community hub’

When the Gunnison Valley’s tourists flood into town during the high season, local visitors centers must keep up, offering coveted information about the area through conversation or tri-fold brochures. As tourism-related tax collections have grown, the Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce, a single entity tasked with upkeeping two visitors centers, hopes to grow, too.

As rampant internet growth defines modern day marketing, visitor’s centers remain a reliable way for visitors to find unique, local information, said Chamber Executive Director Heather Leonard. These centers also function as "liaisons" between visitors and local government, private businesses and event planners, sharing up-to-date information about hours of operation, or camping and trail rules.

In 2023, over 35,000 people walked into the North Valley visitor centers seeking help. To capture more visitors (and therefore revenue) and build community, Leonard is looking to hire more staff, add business hours, bring in artists, organize events and freshen up the website, all in an effort to transform the centers into a modern-day hub. She requested a funding increase from the county this year, but commissioners denied the request at a meeting on Nov. 12, citing a need for more detail in coming plans.

“The biggest challenge is, and this is not just us, the vast majority of visitor centers are sort of stuck in the 90s,” Leonard said. She has served in the role for nearly a year. “We have computers, but we're still handing out brochures.”

The valley has a third visitors center on the east side of Gunnison along Hwy. 50, managed by the Gunnison Country Chamber of Commerce. From January to October of this year, over 6,000 people stopped at the center. This summer, the chamber was able to keep the center open seven days a week from Memorial Day until mid-September, through the closure of Blue Mesa Reservoir middle bridge. Gunnison Chamber of Commerce Director Celeste Helminski told the Times that the organization will send out updates in the new year.

Modernization has ushered in a “contactless” era that complicates the role of the traditional visitors center. When Leonard first arrived in the valley in 2008, Airbnb and VRBO hadn't yet gobbled up vacation rental market share. A few hotels in town have already done away with front desk people and implemented “contactless” check in, mirroring the Airbnb style of limiting in-person interaction.

But the allure of a visitors center might be wrapped up in the “hidden gem” logic, an axiom especially true in remote areas. This idea suggests that unique experiences can only be discovered through a local conversation. Of the more than 300 people who called the North Valley centers across five months this summer and fall, nearly 70% asked for at least some hyper-local knowledge.

“I had a woman call who said, ‘I need a place for rehearsal dinner’ and I started naming this and that and she said, ‘Nope, I've already been through all of that. I need something outside of the box that's unique,’” she said. “And so I think people do their research online, they find that information but then they want to connect with someone.”

The chamber is funded by grants, visitor center retail (like maps and posters) and contributions from various taxing entities. But while local governments and organizations like the Tourism and Prosperity Partnership (TAPP) have been bringing in extra lodging tax revenue from overnight visitor stays, the chamber has not benefited proportionally. In the past few years, funding streams have been stagnant or have decreased.

The valley’s visitor centers receive an annual allotment from the local marketing district (LMD), which levies a 4% tax on lodging. The chamber requested an increase in its annual allotment from $25,000 to $50,000, and two years of an additional $35,000 for new projects. County commissioners, who also sit as the LMD board, discussed the request in a November meeting. Two of three board members indicated they would not entertain an increase this year, but would be open to it in coming years.

County Commissioner Jonathan Houck said that new, innovative chamber services have yet to be fleshed out or include major players like Western Colorado University and Vail Resorts. Leonard is already looking to expand the chamber’s seasonal partnership with Western to have an intern grow into a full-time position for marketing, finances or graphic design.

Commissioner Laura Puckett Daniels disagreed, pointing out that dreaming big will be nearly impossible until Leonard and her small staff aren’t so overworked.

“I see [an increase to $50,000] as just getting them to a place where Heather can stick her head above water and do more of that visionary work,” Puckett Daniels said.

Next year, Leonard hopes to reverse the trend of stagnant income, doubling retail sales in the visitor center and pulling in more from local taxes. While the county didn’t buy in this year, both Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte did. Already, the town increased its business license fee from $100 to $150 and agreed to give the full collection to the chamber, equating to an annual budget jump of over $30,000. Following suit, Mt. Crested Butte council has signaled its willingness to increase the chamber’s allocation to 100% of its occupancy fee, or a “pillow tax.”

“Given the fact that CB and Mt. CB see the majority of visitors to the Gunnison Valley and generates 80% of LMD revenue, this request for equitable funding is not unreasonable,” Crested Butte Mayor Ian Billick wrote in a letter to commissioners.

Visitors centers around the country are already modernizing with new technology, paring down on paper and expanding local retail. Leonard recalled a session at the Colorado Governor’s Tourism Conference this fall which offered insight into changes within the industry.

​​”I cannot remember the real name of the session, but the joking name was that visitor centers are dead,” she said. “And the point was, no, they're actually not. They're just changing and evolving.”

A visitor center in Augusta, Georgia offers a rotating art gallery, a food and drink tasting bar and merchandise from small businesses. There, merchandise sales brought in almost $90,000 in 2023, nearly 10 times the chamber’s 2023 revenue from selling posters and maps. Fort Collins has taken a similar approach by moving its operations to a downtown area, slimming down on rows of brochures and instead displaying local goods. It also becomes a community center at night, and coordinates classes and hosts music events.

Leonard believes the center at Crested Butte’s 4-Way Stop might be a good spot for a visitor center by day, community hub by night. The center purchased rolling display carts, free coffee and even offered CSA pickup and compost drop-off. So far, it has already increased its revenues this year; as of Sept. 30, it brought in close to $19,000 in sales. The center offers a small selection of local art, but Leonard also hopes it can be a place for more artists, especially those who don’t have a brick-and-mortar venue.

(Abby Harrison can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or abby@gunnisontimes.com.)