Jim Knight estimates that his Marketing Exploration Committee has saved the cities of Ketchum and Sun Valley a total of half a million dollars.
The original task of the three-person committee was to find and hire a professional marketing firm—using city money—to analyze the resort area's faltering economy and develop a potential marketing strategy everyone could depend on.
"We really need, in my opinion, a tent big enough for everyone to live in and want to be a part of," he said.
Instead of hiring someone else, the two-month-old committee did the work itself and presented its unprecedented economic analysis to both city councils Monday night at Ketchum City Hall. Committee Chair Knight said that among the committee's three members and consultants, such as Sun Valley Resort General Manager Tim Silva, they have all the expertise needed to get the job done.
"This is part two of a three-part story," Knight said before revealing the committee's findings.
Part one was Sun Valley City Councilman Bob Youngman's presentation this winter revealing the fact that Ketchum's sales taxes decreased by about 35 percent over the past decade and Sun Valley's decreased by 23 percent.
"Part one—the patient is ill and we should recognize that," Knight said.
Youngman created the committee in early March but excluded himself.
Knight presented part two on Monday, calling it the "diagnosis" to discover why the resort area is so "ill." He said the recommendation for a "cure" would be presented in weeks.
The diagnosis
Knight said it's common knowledge that the area is "suffering," but at what pace compared to the rest of America and other resorts? He said the national economy has declined 6 percent in the past two years, but most ski-oriented resorts are seeing between no noticeable decline and one of 6 percent.
"The ski industry has been remarkably resilient during the downturn of the economy," he said.
Committee member Bill Wright said smaller, nondestination ski areas aren't seeing much decline in business during the recession.
"The skiers didn't stop skiing," he said, "but they stayed home to ski."
However, Sun Valley and Ketchum's local-option taxes show the towns' economies seeing 20 percent less business in the past two years, far more than other resorts. The answer as to "why" also lies in the local-option taxes, which primarily come from two sources: retail and construction. "We suffer from too much economic concentration," Knight said.
He said thriving resort areas, such as Aspen, Colo., and Jackson, Wyo., have diverse economies. Income isn't dependent on one sector of the economy.
In the Sun Valley area, construction supported 21 percent of the economy before the fall. The problem with that is that when one kind of business takes a hit, the entire community feels the pain.
"The more diverse you are and the larger you are, the better off you are," Knight said. "The reason is that when one area falls, the others fill in that gap."
Youngman said the "real message" within this is easy for local residents to relate to. At a little more than $30,000, the average income of valley residents is about half that of the residents of Pitkin County, Colo., and Teton County, Wyo.
"We are less diverse, and we earn less money as a result," Youngman said.
Besides the economy, Knight delved into the brand, lodging, transportation and marketing. He said all are lagging here.
The brand is confusing and many potential visitors don't even know Sun Valley exists.
The average Ketchum condo is 24 years old and "deteriorating."
"Our hotel lodging product has not kept pace, is tattered and needs to be both expanded and revitalized," he said.
He said other successful resorts, such as Aspen, thrive with farther-away airports by providing local transportation.
As for marketing, he said Ketchum and Sun Valley are trapped in a "paradox." Data from other resorts show a direct correlation between spending and marketing effectiveness.
"Our marketing effort is trying to do too many things with too little money," Knight said.
The cure for fixing all the ailments remains to be seen, but the committee will make suggestions in mere weeks.
"However, I want to point out that there's no magic drug that's going to make us all better," Knight said.
The recovery will be slow.
Trevon Milliard: tmilliard@mtexpress.com
Jim Knight Photo by
