Readers weigh in on sustainable tourism

In response to a query Xpress posed on social media, local residents shared their thoughts on sustainable tourism in the region.

Some commenters suggested that new approaches to transportation are critical for achieving sustainable tourism. Asheville Greenway Committee Chair Mary Weber wrote, “Provide more options for people to get to and around Asheville without a car.” Similarly, architect Michael McDonough talked about ways to bring tourists into town without their cars, including shuttles, public transportation, safe ways to walk and even passenger trains. John Spears and Kenny Hubbell wrote in support of reintroducing streetcars downtown.

Andrew Dahm and Rich Lee lobbied for higher hotel taxes, with a significant portion of the proceeds directed toward infrastructure and job programs. “Sustainable tourism necessarily involves taxation,” wrote Dahm. Lee, meanwhile, said taxes should be “as high as the market can bear,” with some of the money being used for advertising and marketing efforts.

Lee felt that local small businesses’ owning their own buildings is a key to long-term sustainability, and he called for programs to help them achieve that. He also suggested establishing a “city-owned retail space like Charlotte’s 7th Street Public Market, with low-overhead booths for startup retailers.”

Commenters held differing views on the benefits of expanding Asheville’s convention venues. Kirk Weir wrote: “We now have the hotels, and our climate and cultural activities are generally adequate to fill these hotels on the weekends. However, due to the embarrassing conference center we call the U.S. Cellular Center, we are throwing away weekly revenue in the form of conferences and conventions. Newer hotels and the revamp of BB&T should provide some additional conference rooms. But they will most likely pale in comparison to a full-fledged conference center with both the space and technology needed to meet the requirements of modern conventions.”

McDonough, on the other hand, favored staying out of the convention market, saying, “I believe each of the new hotels has meeting spaces for small conferences. I prefer we aim for smaller groups and leave the conventiongoers to big cities.”

Some commenters expressed ideas for supporting local culture. Rosetta Buan, the founder of Rosetta’s Kitchen, wrote: “I find it fulfilling when I think of tourists and visitors coming to learn our culture and be inoculated by us all. Are they coming to visit? Or to gawk at? To behave as guests or as spectators? I’m not sure how to cultivate that, but it’s where I find peace with the changes.” Sarah Estrella chimed in, “I wish the city was able to really step up for the workers, artists and musicians for pay and housing. These are the people who make this city the type of attractive place to visit that it is.”

Local journalist David Forbes wrote that organizing the local labor market is a key part of creating a sustainable tourism economy. “Cities where tourism sectors generate some kind of decent wages and conditions are generally those where those sectors are heavily unionized. The seasonal nature and generally low wages of tourism-dependent industries lead to a lot of underpayment, labor law violations and wage theft. Without some form of pressure from an organization like a union, profits generally go to more expansion and marketing instead of the people generating them, and conditions remain crappy, leading locals working in those industries to eventually leave town, taking their skills and experience with them.

“Tourism and related industries,” continued Forbes, “are actually ripe for unions, because unlike a lot of manufacturing, their profits are tied to a specific place. The Biltmore Estate, for example, can’t up and leave if its workers unionize.”