The Wood River Valley isn't a single world. It's two worlds.
In the Real World live people with jobs, families and businesses. In Leisure World live people whose finances are not tied to the valley—or who would like to believe they're not.
The two worlds regularly collide in debates over the future of the valley's recreation-based economy, and recent public hearings on proposed new hotels in Ketchum have forced some curious attitudes into the open.
One prevalent attitude in Leisure World is that tourism really isn't all that important to the valley and that it just gets in the way of life in this world.
Given that nearly every resident came here as an employee of a tourist-related business or as a resort visitor, and given that the valley was fast reverting to ownership by a few sheep when the Union Pacific Railroad revived it with the invention of the ski lift and construction of Sun Valley Lodge in 1936, the view that tourism isn't important is jaw-dropping.
Without tourism the valley's cities would be wide spots in the road. That was true in 1936, and it's still true today.
Common as well in Leisure World is the "drawbridge" or "Private Idaho" attitude: "I'm here now, so lift the drawbridge."
People with this attitude object to mass marketing or new hotels in the hope that no one else will discover the valley's wide-open ski runs and world-class amenities.
The third and perhaps most puzzling attitude in Leisure World is that the hospitality industry is not really a worthy endeavor.
Locally, this means the Real World gets little or no respect from Leisure World.
Unlike Americans, Europeans regard resort management and tourism as serious business, as evidenced by the many famous schools devoted to the education of hospitality professionals on that continent.
Americans could and should take a lesson in this regard.
To be great, resorts require more than a few hotel clerks and a housekeeping staff. Great resorts, great restaurants and great resort communities require great training and great attitudes from people who love their work and regard it as an art.
Great resort staffers show that their work is their pleasure. Like great actors, they make maintaining facilities, welcoming guests and creating great vacations look effortless. They bring more to the job than a turned down blanket and a chocolate on a pillow.
It's time the Real World got the respect it deserves for building the economy upon which most of the valley's livelihoods rely and for bringing joy and relaxation to a world that without them would be much the poorer.
