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Park City Pulse: Chamber/Bureau determined to help lead way to a balanced tomorrow

Jennifer Wesselhoff Park City Chamber/Bureau president and CEO
Jennifer Wesselhoff, president and CEO of the Park City Chamber/Bureau. | Courtesy photo

Exciting ideas drive everything about America, including the liberties we celebrated this past weekend. But as anyone who has been asked, “What’s the big idea?” knows, ideas must be carefully refined before they can work effectively.

That’s one reason I am excited about the Chamber’s newly-approved Long-Range Strategic Plan, which features five well-researched objectives – big ideas – at its core.

Why do it? Our tourism-based economy is evolving. We grasp that our entrepreneurial dreams, investments, local jobs and public services depend on our visitors, as do many of our amenities, from dining choices to the arts. Yet, at the same time, we find periodic congestion, and environmental impacts a threat to our sense of place and community – the qualities that make Park City, well, Park City.



How we grapple with these issues and their solutions will define our immediate future and our long-term prospects as a sustainable community to call home.

We at the Chamber/Bureau recognize our responsibility in this rapidly evolving socio-economic milieu, which also involves climate action and social justice. We are determined to help lead the way to a balanced tomorrow. In the coming months, we will complete the Park City Sustainable Tourism Plan and present it for endorsement to the Park City and Summit County councils. It will commit our region to ambitious and wide-ranging sustainability goals in everything from transportation, environmental protection and visitor education to historic preservation, equity and inclusion, and encouragement of the arts.



Balancing these many forces means realigning our mission and defining our objectives. To do so, a volunteer Board Planning Committee consulted our members, government leaders and the community while incorporating components of our Sustainable Tourism Plan research.

Let’s look at the results!

Our newly defined vision and mission: We embrace the world, acting as a global model of community stewardship and authentic experiences. We serve our mountain community, inspire sustainable travel, drive equitable economic prosperity, and catalyze positive change.

Our Five Objectives:

Sustain long-term community collaboration in service to equitable economic opportunity and sustainable tourism. We will expand regional partnerships to address housing, health care, a stable hospitality workforce, legislative solutions and economic diversification.

Serve Chamber members through responsive and relevant communication, programming, and education. Our extensive communications resources will celebrate the magnificent work our members do. A reimagined web presence will feature local events, economic data, resources for employers and employees, and collaboration on housing, transportation, childcare, recycling, and more.

Deepen resident understanding and appreciation of our visitor economy. No one wins if visitors don’t feel welcome or residents feel insignificant. As visitors become informed about our sustainably initiatives, we will reach out to residents to ensure that we understand the concerns – working to celebrate the positive impacts and mitigate the pinch points.

Attract, manage, monitor, and measure tourism for the economic, social, and cultural benefit of residents, the business community, and visitors. This broad objective includes defining our ‘target’ audience, infusing sustainability in all Chamber touch points, educating in-market visitors, using data to inform all strategies and monitoring progress.

Evolve the PCCVB’s structure, skills, and capabilities to support our current mission, thus positioning us as a world leader in destination stewardship. We will ensure our board, staff, and internal processes are aligned to achieve our objectives.

I want to thank our entire staff and the Long-Range Strategic Planning Committee for formulating these bold new directions. They are:  Shaydar Edelmann (Park City Mountain), Brooks Kirchheimer (Hearth & Hill), Casey Metzger (Top Shelf), Aldy Milliken (Kimball Art Center), Coleen Reardon (Deer Valley Resort) Rhonda Sideris (Park City Lodging), Carolyn Wawra (Recycle Utah), Melanie Welch (Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation) and Diego Zegarra (Park City Community Foundation).So, what’s the big idea? We can proudly say we have five! Together, they form a North Star to guide us as we build a sustainable tourism-based Park City in the years ahead.           

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