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The Professional Jeep Tour Guide

Jim Bergstrom, professional Jeep tour guide

Jeep tour guides have a unique job description: professional guide. A guide has a fun, yet difficult job. The elements of intense weather, tight timing, safety, customer satisfaction, tour information quality, unpredictable cycles of tour sales, down-time between tours, personal time invested in vehicle maintenance are all a part of the guide’s day. These demands require dedication and accountability.. .and a lot of energy. The reward is: freedom to be a teacher, educator, outdoor activity and no desk job, interacting with people from all around the world, the opportunity to keep learning about one’s environment and oneself, the independence inherent with being outdoors on a trail with people inspired by the incredible natural beauty, and a flexible lifestyle that can support one’s life in a beautiful place.

What does it take? What is necessary to make it fun and not a burden? How can a guide make the grade?

The core values of a great Jeep Tour guide company are based on a certain attitude. All successful enterprises and the jobs within such an excellent company require basic standards and responsibilities that every employee constantly strives to attain and maintain. The best of the best have employees that won’t accept anything less than the highest standards because those guidelines define the very people who work there. It is a case of excellence vs. mediocrity.

We’ve all heard it before, and it only happens if we make it so. It’s not supposed to be a labor or chore, just a way of doing what we do. We make the standards in order to define what a professional guide is. We create the level of excellence we expect in order to be able to say we are not just drivers, we’re guides. Not everyone need apply. …One size does not fit all. You’ll recognize the qualities I’m going to describe and know where your individual, personal skills either excel or need attention.

Guide Qualities and Standards

The day begins early. I wake up and first thing, I call the reservations office. I looked at the board yesterday before I left work, but I realize that guides might call in sick, early risers might be in the door at 7:15 and book an 8:00 tour, or a new reservationist might have not yet fully understood the reservations system utilized for booking, organizing by proper rotation, distributing fairly amongst guides, and thoroughly documenting names/address/weight/phone number/and state of gestation and thus might have made, inadvertently, the error of telling me the wrong state of being “on-point”. I assume what I heard was true and get up, preparing for work believing I have plenty of time. A small voice gnaws at the back of mind and suggests that I call back in again. Surprise, I’m 1st “on-point” and have only twenty minutes to get to the Jeep parking lot, check out my jeep, and make it to the office in time to be ready in case a tour is booked at 5 minutes to the hour. I’m a bit miffed for whatever reason and I didn’t get time to eat breakfast.

Tolerant, Patient, Compassionate,

and able to anticipate changes…

I know what can go wrong and learn to cope with inevitable changes without blaming others. I plan ahead better, call-in earlier, and if in doubt, ask to speak to a reservationist more experienced and better able to help me to do my job. I might even just get to the yard earlier than usual since it seems to be busier this month and things change quicker than normal on the tour rotation board. This is Internal Customer Service and it goes both ways. I’m not just a driver, but a professional guide who takes responsibility for the overall situation, even the parts that seem to be outside my “work area”, because I truly care about the quality of my company work environment and want things to improve and go smoothly for everyone, not just me.

The weather is great, it’s 80 degrees, I get three consecutive tours which go by smoothly, and I get off a little early because of my position in tour rotation. I get home early and have more time to read/garden/bike/or just drink a beer. I learned a bit more about the complexity of this tour business and remember to respond a bit differently next time. I help create the situation and am not just a result of it. Wow, I even had a few new ideas that might make the whole system work more efficiently without dumping more work on someone else and tell my manager later when I see him at the Oak Creek Brewery or Cowboy Club. I hope he gives it some thought and passes on the idea. Knowing he has a lot to deal with, and that it matters to me, I remind him a few days later. It doesn’t really get adopted, but upon explanation, I realize that it was considered and that I like being a part of the solution, not just upset about the problem.

Understanding, Cooperative,

and Creative…

I have few days off. It rains and rains and by my first day back to work, it’s still a bit nasty. Tourists really count on their Jeep tour as a high point of their visit, and I know that even if it is a bit rainy, unless it’s pouring, the tours will still go on. I really don’t feel like getting out in it, but that’s the life of an outdoor guide and I make the effort to wake up early enough to call in with plenty of time to get ready just in case. Besides, I called in the night before, just before the reservations office closed, in order to get an idea of where I am in rotation. I hate rushing and won’t settle for going out without thoroughly checking and prepping my jeep. It’s not just my safety I’m concerned about. The whole company’s success is based upon great customer service and passenger safety is the number one priority. My jeep for the day, assigned or not, is known for requiring a keen eye in order to discover the fine frame cracks or hidden broken leaf springs that an amateur would miss during inspection. The maintenance crew does a great job of fixing what breaks or needs repair, but it’s my job, life, and livelihood, as well as the whole team’s, that depends upon my being a careful jeep inspector. I’ve heard of brakes going out in the weirdest places and don’t plan on being one of those stories.

I have a tour at 10 so I get down there and bring some extra dry clothing in anticipation of possibly getting soaked on tour. I love my new rain jacket. I can’t stand having to use the plastic emergency rain ponchos. That’s just not good enough to insure my comfort all day in an outdoor world. My gloves sure come in handy, too, when I have to put hands on pavement in order to check the jeep’s springs and U-bolts. I fill out my check sheet and remember that I don’t have my waterproof bag for blankets on board my jeep yet for this season and go hunting for it. None of the vehicle maintenance department guys know where the bags got stored, so while I call the main office to track down the location, the maintenance guys make their own call on the radio and make their own inquiries.

We all know how important it is for passengers to feel as comfortable as possible since they don’t live and work in the elements like we do. We deal with weather Jeremiah Johnson-style and though we sometimes suffer through it, we don’t cry about it - that’s what guides do. Instead, we joke with each other about how nice that heater in Jeep 20 works compared to the older jeeps. We ask the vehicle maintenance guys to look into fixing up all the heaters as well. The waterproof bags get found, we round ‘em up, get 3 dry blankets, and make a mental and written note to put in the suggestion to keep the bags in one easy-to-find place for next year. I remember to tell my manager as well and he writes down the suggestion to add it to the Action Items at the next guide meeting. It gets done and I laugh thinking that maybe it actually all can work out better as long as I take the time to care and know that I can count on my fellow employees to do the same.

Dependable, Consistent,

Team Player,

and Humorful…

A new day. We have a big group tour on a 1 ½ hour Scenic Tour and they arrive, surprise, on time. The busses have a reputation for slugging in late from Phoenix and causing departure delays. Another surprise; the passengers are all 70-80 yrs. old and do not speak a word of English! Oh well, at least I get to give my voice a break and practice my large hand movements. Geologist is my name, pointing is my game. …The tour goes well, but without the usual time spent talking and answering questions, plus the fact that none of these folks could (or should be made to) walk up to Merry-Go-Round, i have to drive extra slow, kick-in to first gear, and burn time a little differently than I’m used to. I stop more frequently and get out to take photos of them sitting in the jeep with different backgrounds. I remember what my Driver Trainer instructor Jim taught me and put the jeep in park, step down on the emergency brake, and shut off the motor just in case someone leans over in the front passenger seat and accidentally bumps the jeep into Drive. Amazing how photos break the language barrier and everyone can relate. Good customer service, too; instead of just being a driver this tour, since the language barrier effectively eliminates my chance of being a guide, I switch gears and become a photographer. I get back to the drop-off point, which I assume was where we started, and find out I’m the only jeep there. I check by radio and discover that the drop-off is at Los Abrigados and have to get back into traffic, go down the hill, and deal with my inattentiveness: I know that somewhere in the guide station area there would have been a notice posted listing all the details of this tour, but I didn’t look and figured that the Tour Group Leader would tell me (it’s part of their job) if the drop was any different than the pick-up. I notice that a few guides came back 15 minutes early on a 1 ½ hour tour just because it was easy to and besides, they couldn’t be guides as usual and had to just drive silently.

I decide to mention this at the next guide meeting because even though the passengers all seemed to have had a great time, I noticed the Tour Company organizers, who were waiting at the resort pickup for the tours’ return, seemed a little upset and were looking at their watches. I’d hate for our group sales director to have to deal with complaints from the customers that write our paychecks. It might eventually come back against us in the form of shorter or fewer group tours. That could mean less built-in tips, the biggest and fattest daily bonus I can count on. I finally get out of the constant snarl of L.A.’s left-turn onto Hwy. 179 and have lost ten minutes of my only 30 minute break for the day. I’m mad, but mostly at myself, and decide to check more carefully next time for the location of the drop-off and not just count on someone else telling me. I’ll ask instead. We all make mistakes, but this was one that I had control over and could have prevented if it really mattered to me. Back at the office I look at the board and low and behold, I have a Sunset. Oh well, not my favorite, but we all get them and that’s the way it is. Later, my passengers are incredible and I get a $50 tip. You never can tell….

A Safe driver, Flexible,

Constantly Learning,

and Able to Adapt

Sedona sits at the base of the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau, the huge wall that contains the red cliffs and canyons around us and is often mistaken for the slopes of a mountain range. This plateau edge is known as the Mogollon Rim, named for Juan Ignacio Flores Mogollon, an early governor of the southwest at the time Spain ruled the area from its New World capitol in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This wall or escarpment extends approximately 240 miles northwest to southeast across Arizona and ends at Mogollon, New Mexico. The Colorado Plateau is the second largest plateau in the world after the Tibetan Plateau and is approximately 140,000 square miles in size. It contains an incredible number of national parks. monuments. and archaeological sites within its boundaries such as Grand Canyon, Brice, Zion, Arches, Canvonlands, Lake Powell, Mesa Verde, Petrified Forest, and the Painted Desert. The famous canyons that cut into the surface of this geological layer cake are in effect merely tiny cracks running across small portions of the plateau.

About 80 million years ago, tectonic force deep within the earth’s crust uplifted the plateau over a period of millions of years to its initial height much higher than it is today. It subsided over millions of years and began the slow process of weathering along its edge through a combination of erosional forces. Geologists believe its original edge was at least 30 miles south of where we see it today in the vicinity of Prescott, Arizona. Four main layers of sedimentary rock are visible in these cliffs, rock that is compressed by its own weight or the weight of the layers above it. Sandstone is the primary rock although two layers of limestone are also evident. The color of our famous red sandstone is due to staining by iron oxide, commonly known as rust.

Each layer represents a distinct geological period with its own characteristic environment. Basalt, solidifed lava, is the most recent layer and is due to the intense volcanic events in the Flagstaff region in the last 10 million years. Over 500 extinct volcanos dot the landscape of the Flagstaff region and Sunset Crater, the most recent, erupted a mere 940 years ago in 1065-1066 A.D. Basalt acts as a protective layer on top of the plateau and slows the erosion process in the areas it covers.

The fantastic formations that stand above us in Sedona are erosion remnants classified as mesas, buttes, and pinnacles. They are, in effect, the harder, more resistant pieces left behind while everything else was washed away. Water, wind, freeze-thaw cycles, plant roots, and gravity all combine to create an erosional force that slowly eliminates the broken and fractured material and leaves these random shapes behind. A mesa is a flat, table-like formation; a pinnacle is a tower or column: both have a distinct shape. A butte, by elimination, is any formation that does not qualify as a mesa or pinnacle - buttes come in many shapes and sizes and are the most common feature of the landscape around Sedona as well as the other canyon areas of the southwest. As the Colorado Plateau continues to erode northward, these formations, too, will erode away as others are created and left behind in the landscape as free-standing monuments. At its current rate of erosion, approximately one meter every 2,000 years, the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau will have receded north to downtown Flagstaff in a mere 70 million years….

Jim Bergstrom, professional Jeep tour guide, NAI

Hello again – December is here and 2006 is almost over. December and January are great months to be in Sedona with usually good weather and far fewer people. Sedona is decked out for the holidays – with our traditional “Red Rock Fantasy” at Los Abrigados Resort with over 1 million lights. This year uptown Sedona is also ablaze with holiday lighting.

The uptown “enhancement project” is almost complete and it really is worth seeing the new pedestrian friendly areas as well as the new “street art.”

Saturday December 9th marks the 33rd anniversary of the lighting of the luminarias at Tlaquepaque known as “Festival of Lights.” Over 6000 luminarias will be placed thought the grounds of the arts and crafts village and the 47 stores and galleries.

Also a sight to be seen is John Soderberg’s “Merlin”, a 12’ sculpture of the wizard which has a new home at the Old Marketplace Center in West Sedona.

The Southwest Inn has great rates for December and January with mid-week rates stating at only $99 (except for the Christmas holiday period). For more information see www.swinn.com.

Two items of local news that will affect Sedona’s future have occurred this week. The City Council has approved a community plan amendment to allow the new owners of the Sedona Cultural Park to live on. The developers were given the changes necessary to create a small commercial village surrounding the amphitheater area and also provide land for an indoor performing arts center.

ILX Corporation had their request approved to build The Village at Heritage Park, a mixed use time-share, retail and public facilities. Both developers still have a long road ahead of them to get approval to construct their specific site-plans.

Here is a link to my “December Real Estate Update”:

http://realtytimes.com/97/JoelGilgoff

This Newsletter is full of interesting and useful information that I think you will enjoy whether you are a buyer, seller, homeowner, or renter. I hope you enjoy this monthly newsletter. If you have any comments, please e-mail them to me. Or, if you would like to see a certain topic covered in future months, let me know that too!

We wish you and your family a great holiday - and a sucessful, happpy and healthy new year!

From: Joel Gilgoff Associate Broker/President, jg@sedona.net
Lori Stewart, Associate, ljestewart@commspeed.net
Skip Stewart, Associate, skipstewart@commspeed.net
RE/MAX Sedona 800-282-4166
Web-site: www.sedona-real-estate.com

Reprinted from the August, 1994 issue of

The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly

Authors - Jim Bergstrom, Dr. Lawrence Yu, and Edgar Medweth

© 1994, Cornell University

The fate of a single dirt road could be an indicator of how well an entire destination will be maintained.

Jim Bergstrom is a professional Jeep tour guide at Pink Jeep Tours, an operator of scenic and informa­tional tours in Sedona, Arizona. Larry Yu, Ph.D. , is an assistant professor at the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management at Northern Arizona University, where Edgar Medweth is a research assistant.

DESTINATION MAINTENANCE is an integral part of developing and retaining a particular location’s popularity. Too often, however, tourism planners focus only on destination development without also paying attention to. retaining and preserving the attributes that attracted travelers to the destination in the first place.

In this article, we will discuss the effects of overuse and inadequate maintenance on a site near Sedona, Arizona.

As a destination rises in popularity, tourism officials often make the mistake of believing that tourist arrivals will continue to grow no matter how crowded the destination becomes and no matter whether the destination has been maintained in close to its original condition. Specific instances worldwide have demon­strated that destinations that do not maintain the quality of the tourism experience risk losing

their attractiveness to international travelers.

Pattaya, Thailand, for example, is one location that has already suffered degradation as the result of poor destination maintenance.(1) Bali, Indonesia, is also suffering physical damage that may cause travelers to stay away. (2) And Huatulco, Mexico, runs a similar risk due to overdevelopment.(3) In contrast, Korean tourism officials realized that cleaning up the Han river was essential to their strategy of encouraging more travelers to visit Seoul.(4)

Without intentional maintenance, most destinations are subject to a pattern of growth and decline that has been recorded and studied for more than a decade. That paradigm, commonly known as the destination life cycle, has become an established theory used to explain the rise and fall of destinations.(5) Adapted from the product life cycle, the concept plots a destination’s specific growth patterns as an S-shaped curve with six phases: exploration, involvement, development, consolidation, stagnation, and either decline or rejuvenation. During the first phases, relatively wealthy, trend-setting travelers seek out the new destination. Gradually, the nature of the tourism changes from high-spending FITs to moderate-spending incentive travelers and, ultimately, low-spending SMERFS (society, military, educational, religious, and fraternal travelers). (6) While the number of arrivals may not decline at this point, tourism receipts may begin to suffer as the growth in arrivals stalls and per-traveler spending drops off.

The nature of the final phase - decline or rejuvenation - depends on whether a destination’s planners are able to restore or replace the attributes that gave the destination its initial popularity. Michael Leven, COO of Holiday Inn Worldwide, has used Atlantic City, New Jersey, as an example of rejuvenation by replacing attributes. (7) Atlantic City was a destination in decline until gaming casinos opened up, creating new tourism markets and inviting more growth.

In actuality, tests of the destination-life-cycle concept have yielded varying results. Studies of such destinations as Malta and several Caribbean islands have fit convincingly into the life-cycle pattern. In a study of Pacific-island destinations, however, Dexter Choy found that the life-cycle concept failed to explain growth patterns. (8) Choy concluded that each destination’s development should be considered individually and that planners should not automatically resign themselves to falling into a predefined pattern.

The key to breaking out of the pattern of growth and decline that has befallen so many destinations is to include destination maintenance as part of any development master plan. Destination maintenance improves the quality of tourism products and services, enhances the tourist experience, stimulates further tourist business, and preserves existing ecological relationships. Those goals are best accomplished by employing landscape architects and regional planners to develop destination plans, rather than relying solely on investors’ or developers’ whims.

The failure of a destination’s development can often be attributed to poor maintenance of its attractions and facilities, particularly when the destination’s growth rate levels off. Anarchic development can cause a destination’s attractiveness to deteriorate, discouraging repeat visitors. (9) On the other hand, a proper destination-maintenance plan can keep a location attractive to tourists and foster a successful tourism industry.(10)

Most travel planners will quickly agree that destination maintenance is critical to maintaining the growth and attractiveness of their destination. Yet degradation of an area can occur quickly and almost without notice. Such is the case of Schnebly Hill Road, a popular recreation spot near Sedona, Arizona, which itself has emerged as an international destination.

Red Rock Country

A community of approximately 8,000 residents, Sedona is one of the popular resort destinations in central Arizona. Located 120 miles north of Phoenix and about 100 miles south of the Grand Canyon, Sedona lies at the base of Mogollon Rim, the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau. Its semi-arid climate nurtures a diversified biological community ranging from desert grassland to pine and fir forests. Tourists come for its spectacular topography, Native American cultural locations, and a wide range of recreational opportunities (including downhill skiing in the San Francisco Mountains, 30 miles distant).

The rugged red-rock terrain near Sedona is a chief tourist attraction. Many travelers stop to climb at Bell Rock, south of Sedona, for example, and tourists are enthralled by the massive turreted sandstone buttes, red-rock monoliths, cliffs, and canyons. North of Sedona, Oak Creek Canyon offers such recreational activities as hiking, camping, swimming, and trout fishing. In summer Oak Creek is a retreat from the heat, and in autumn its brilliant fall foliage provides a display uncommon for the southwest.

The area’s natural attractions combine with opportunities to experience local arts and crafts. Local shops display and sell Kachina dolls made by Zuni and Hopi craftspeople, as well as blankets made on the nearby Navajo nation and those made by Zapotecs and imported from Mexico.

As a result of its many attributes, Sedona has seen a dramatic increase in tourist arrivals in recent years. Some three million tourists visited in 1992, and tourism officials were predicting a record year in 1993.(11) At the beginning of 1994, Sedona had 1,400 hotel and resort rooms, although expansion plans announced by Holiday Inn, Best Western, and others will add 700 rooms to that total.(12)

Tourism’s rapid growth has brought great economic benefits to local retailers and government. That same growth, however, has also noticeably degraded the landscape of red-rock country and Oak Creek Canyon. Schnebly Hill Road in Bear Wallow Canyon has particularly suffered from increased tourist use.

The Case of Schnebly Hill

Schnebly Hill Road provides memorable views of red-rock country as it climbs 2,000 feet over 12 miles in Bear Wallow Canyon.(13) Originally a cattle trail, in 1902 the road was turned into a wagon lane along its lower sections. In the early 1930s, the trail was widened, graded, and extended into a gradually ascending dirt lane that could accommodate motor vehicles. Eventually the road, still a rough washboard lane, was connected to Interstate 17, the north-south traffic artery through central Arizona that bypasses Sedona as it connects Flagstaff to Phoenix. Schnebly Hill Road was at last graded smooth in 1992, and red cinders were used to fill spots that had formerly turned into ruts.

Before the 1992 road improvement, almost all drivers turned around when they came to the rocky dirt road. High-clearance trucks or vans might venture on, and sometimes 4×4 recreational vehicles drove up to see how far they could go. Now that Schnebly Hill Road is smoothly graded, all kinds of vehicles can and do use the road, resulting in a substantial increase in traffic. By the author’s count, the typical traffic volume before the improvement was five to ten vehicles in any 90-minute period. In contrast, the volume on August 26, 1993, for example, was as high as 20 cars in a 90-minute period. The 1993 Verde Valley Transportation Study projects that by 1998 some 200 cars will be using Schnebly Hill Road each day. Overnight camping has also increased from three or four per night before 1992 to (on August 26, 1993) six tents, three recreational vehicles, and two other cars. That night’s count was typical of the level of use the site received in 1993, but the count has continued to grow. One evening in March 1994, 20 campers had set up - 18 of them with out-of-state license plates.

While the increase in visitor use seems small by downtown Sedona’s standards, the fragility of the area is shown by the degradation seen at Schnebly Hill Road. That degradation has not brought with it an equal increase in supervision, cleanup, and enforcement. As a result, three elements of destination degradation are clearly visible. They are (1) cut green trees, (2) runover plants, and (3) trash.

Because most fallen wood and deadwood has long ago been consumed by campers, current visitors cut and strip green trees to build campfires. Low-lying shrubs and plants are also not immune to the human invasion. Poor maneuvering by many drivers and intentional trail blazing by drivers of four-wheel-drive vehicles have caused substantial destruction of vegetation. Efforts to prevent off-road drivers from pushing trails deeper into sensitive areas, typically a line of flat boulders that can be driven over, have been ineffectual. Finally, the increase in overnight camping has resulted in a considerable trash buildup, as many campers leave their trash at their campsites when they leave. Moreover, the increased day and overnight use has also created many “bush sites,” contaminated with human waste and toilet paper. Most of those sites are located in or directly above the main wash and run-off area that drains directly into Oak Creek, which is the water source for local residents.

Preserving the Site

The preservation of Schnebly Hill Road must be undertaken immediately. Without increased supervision, cleanup, and enforcement of regulations, the impact of increased visitation will continue to degrade forest lands and tarnish the natural beauty of the entire area. The following five recommendations, which can apply to many destinations, should maintain Schnebly Hill Road’s attractiveness to visitors. The overall approach is to retain Schnebly Hill Road as primarily a drive-through area that permits daytime stops for photographs or brief hikes.

Control campers.

Campers must be encouraged to obey regulations for use of the land, which is under the supervision of the U.S. Forest Service. Unless lie test service can increase daily and nightly road patrols, it should discourage or regulate overnight camping. With the Forest Service’s close supervision, most campers will obey camping rules and not leave behind garbage and unburied human waste.

The issue of human waste is the most difficult, since there are no toilet facilities in the area. The forest service has considered installing chemical toilets, but they would cause “visual pollution”. We estimate that at least ten such facilities would be required along the four-mile stretch of Schnebly Hill Road that is popular for camping.

Ban campfires.

Campers should be required to use stoves or charcoal fires for cooking, as occurs in the Grand Canyon. If authorities choose to allow campfires, campers should be on notice that they must bring in their own wood, as is required in campsites in many other states. An education effort to demonstrate the damage to green trees can also limit further destruction.

Put up signs.

Large and detailed signs posted at the trailhead should outline specific regulations governing the use of the area. Existing signs are generic and uninteresting posters that are easily overlooked or ignored. Signs should be attention-grabbing and educational, explaining the importance of maintaining the area.

Restrict off-road activity.

Although many pullouts have lines of boulders intended to prevent off-road driving, those rocks are easily driven over, driven around, or pushed aside. More or larger boulders should be added to pullouts in particularly sensitive areas.

Reduce speeds.

The 1992 grading was so successful that drivers are encouraged to speed recklessly up the road. By reducing the speed limit to no more than 15 miles per hour, the road would be returned to its status as a leisurely scenic drive.

Reaction

Schnebly Hill Road is just one small part of the Sedona area, but its preservation seems to be integral to maintaining the attractiveness of the area to visitors. Because of its remote location, it is possible that not all tourism officials realize the damage being done to Schnebly Hill. In October and November 1993, we tested that assumption by interviewing resort operators and tourist officials in Sedona. We found that some were, indeed, unaware of the damage being done, while others who were aware of the problem felt unable to deal with it.

Resort operators.

Four resort operators contacted were willing to discuss destination management generally and Schnebly Hill specifically. We met with managers of L’Auberge de Sedona, Poco Diablo, and Enchantment Resort. The manager of the fourth resort, Los Abrigados, could not meet due to time commitments.

All three resort managers concurred that destination maintenance is important. hut none of the three was aw are of the extent of the degradation of Schnebly Hill. Each of the three managers pointed out that educating tourists about Sedona is a crucial factor in maintaining the destination. They thought the proposed Sedona Cultural Park, a performing arts center, would be an excellent vehicle for promoting tourists’ awareness of the fragility of Sedona’s environment.

Forest service.

The U.S. Forest Service needs a plan to keep up with the many visitors traveling through its lands near Sedona, including Schnebly Hill. The forest service, however, lacks sufficient staffing and budget appropriations to handle the problem by itself. Consequently, it has developed a creative solution, called “partnership with the private sector.” This approach emphasizes the importance and effectiveness of cooperation between the public and private sectors. As an example of that cooperation, the forest service gave Pink Jeep Tours permission to build adequate blockage for certain areas on Schnebly Hill Road. Tourists had removed boulders blocking areas that were not appropriate for off-road use. Pink Jeep restored the blockades with larger rocks.(14) The forest service is also considering allocating an employee to patrol the road once a week.

City officials.

Until recently, Sedona city officials made no active input into tourism plan-fling because tourism grew spontaneously. The amount of traffic that the city now faces has forced the city to consider planning and control measures. Among those measures is the Environmentally Sensitive Land Ordinance, which went into effect in December 1993. This land-use code regulates buildings close to ridges and washes and attempts to preserve steep slopes. It also covers such aesthetic matters as color coordination of buildings. While the ordinance tightened regulations on new commercial and residential building develop­ment in Sedona, it does not affect Schnebly Hill Road.

Chamber of Commerce.

The Chamber of Commerce’s goal is developing Sedona. While its mission clearly states that “the basis of our economic well-being is this area’s unique beauty and small-town character,” it is also clear that development outweighs destination maintenance in the chamber’s estimate. Few systematic methods are used to measure tourist arrivals and to study the impact on the environment and community of increasing numbers of tourists.

Keep Sedona Beautiful, a private, non-profit organization founded in 1972, is a driving force in destination maintenance. With more than 1,000 members, this organization is focused on preserving the natural beauty of the area. It has, for example, more than 100 “litter lifters,” who collect trash along highways. Despite its members’ hard work, however, this organization cannot keep up with the detrimental effects of heavy tourist traffic.

Ecotourism

The concept of environmentally responsible tourism has grown to the point that “ecotourism” has become a designation for a recognizable segment of tourists. All of Sedona, but particularly Schnebly Hill Road, could benefit from promotion of environmentally sensitive tourism. Such an approach could help Sedona maintain its growth without damaging the destination. A pattern of appropriate growth should be the goal of destination development plans, because that pattern will avert the almost inevitable decline phase of the destination life cycle. Instead, tourism officials should develop a balanced tourist approach that enhances the tourist experience, protects the tourism resource, and stimulates local business. With those factors in place, the destination’s popularity should hold strong and the destination should be in a constant phase of rejuvenation.

As it stands now, the case of Schnebly Hill Road indicates that Sedona tourism officials may not be able to maintain the quality of their destination. The negative effects of the destruction along Schnebly Hill will eventually be felt throughout the Sedona area, especially if tourists treat other scenic locations with such reckless abandon. The cumulative effect of such behavior could eventually destroy the base on which Sedona’s tourism is built. If Sedona is to escape the paradigm of the destination life cycle, it needs an effective destination-maintenance plan to sustain its tourism development and protect its tourism resources. CQ

(1) Kye-Sung Chon, Anirik Singh, and James R. Mikula, “Thailand’s Tourism and Hotel Industry,”

The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. 34, No. 3 (June 1993), p. 47.

(2) Charles Anderson Bell, “Bali: How to Maintain a Fragile Resort,’ The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. 33, No. 5 (October 1992), p. 30.

(3) Hana Ayala, “Mexican Resorts: A Blueprint with an Expiration Date,’ The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. 34, No. 3 (June 1993), p. 39.

(4) Jong-Yun Ahn and Zafar U. Ahmed, “South Korea’s Emerging Tourism Industry,”

The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. 35, No. 2 (April 1994), p. 84.

(5) R.W.Butler, ‘The Concept of a Tourist Area Cycle of Evolution; Implications for Management of Resources,” The Canadian Geographer, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Spring 1980), pp. 5—12.

(6) See: Michael A. Leven, “The Hotel Life Cycle,” The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 4 (February 1985), pp. 9—10.

(7)Leven, p. 10.

(8) Dexter J.L. Choy, Life Cycle Models for Pacific Island Destinations,” Journal of Travel Research,

Winter 1992, pp. 26—31.

(9) A. da Rosa Pires and C.M.M. Costa, Tourism Devek~pinen~ along Beaches and Waterfronts: The Portuguese Situation, in Progress in Tourism, Recreation, and Hospital­ity Management, Vol. 4, ed. C.P. Cooper and A. Lockwood (London: Beihaven Press, 1992). pp. 103—112.

(10) Stephen Woodley, Tourism and Sustainable Development in Parks and Protected Areas, in Tourism and Sustainable Development: Monitoring, Planning, Managing, ed. J.G. Nelson, R. Butler, and G. Wall

(Waterloo, Ontario: University of Waterloo Press, 1993), pp. 83—96

(11) LA. Mitchell, “Tourism Surge Buoys Sedona,” Arizona Business Gazette, Vol. 113. No. 39 (September 23, 1993), p. 21.

(12) lbid.

(13) See: Suzanne Clemenz, ~‘Schneb1y Hill Road: Red Rock Country’s Scenic Shortcut,” Arizona Highways, March 1987, p. 23.

(14) Pink Jeep Tours is one of the oldest jeep-tour operators in the United States. At its start in 1962, it offered off-road thrill rides. The business has refocused in the past ten years, offering informational tours on established roads.

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