REFLECTING BACK, AND MOVING FORWARD
A SOLUTION?: Mon Forest Towns: Example of a Regional Approach. It's time to start the conversation in the Joshua Tree Gateway Communities.
What began as a dream in 2017 has grown into a collaborative mission to bring sustainable economic development to West Virginia’s hidden gems, improving the quality of life for residents and tourists alike. This model was shared by Amber Laird from Joshua Tree National Park Service during a JTGC (Joshua Tree Gateway Communities) group back in 2022. It gives a perfect example of how a regional approach was able to bring eight counties together in conjunction with the National Forest Services. While some of their specific issues may not to apply to our desert community, the principle is the same.
THE PAST: How did we get here?
The challenges we face are multifactorial. Tourism is a vital part of our economy. There are many pieces to this puzzle, but together we can fix this. This is one of many videos describing effects of excess supply and decreasing demand. As you can see in many of these types of videos, there tends to be little discussion as to the long-term effect this boom and bust has had on our Joshua Tree Gateway communities.
THE FUTURE?: Investor-fueled demand continues unchecked in STR Nation.
Co-owner of Stays You Like, Patryk Swietek, takes to social media quite regularly to give investment advice to our future generation. Patryk is one of many YouTubers who shares the message of how plenty of inventory is available for the taking. Stays You Like recently purchased locally-owned management company, The Co-Host Company. Unfortunately, many investors do not understand that complexity of the challenges we face as a community. As these large profit-driven companies such as FieldTrip / Evoque Modern, Vacasa, we need to be proactive and remind them of what is important to our communities.
A MODEL FOR SUCCESS: Twentynine Palms Tourism Business Improvement District.
The Vist 29 Visitor Center is funded by a 1.5% assessment to hotel and VHR/STR revenue within the City of Twentynine Palms. The TBID is governed by a five-member volunteer board, and regularly reports to the City of 29 Palms City Council and Twentynine Palms. Freedom Plaza opened in 2022, and Visit 29 was able to help sponsor the grand opening event which brought a fantastic crowd to our city.
THE DESERT BEACON: Who we are and where we have been. Where do we go from here?
Our story continues. In the meantime, this is a video celebrating our two year anniversary in June of 2022.
We stand with Brenda Blank in saying that we are not a statistic, we refuse to be a statistic, and we are going to do whatever we can to enrich where we live and help those around us to do the same.