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Tahoe shifts focus from gambling

Posted on August 7th, 2010

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Over the years, Lake Tahoe Basin which is located between the borders of Nevada and California, has been relying on gambling revenue to fill up their coffers. Gambling is one of the few activities that tourists come to do over at Lake Tahoe. Other tourist activities are winter and water sports, hiking and biking. However, a recent report has made it clear that Lake Tahoe can no longer rely on gambling to pad their budget. Along with all the different localities across the US, Lake Tahoe has had its own breed of problems brought about by the recent recession. While most States look towards gambling to revitalize ailing budgets and to plug financial holes, Lake Tahoe seeks a different source.

Lake Tahoe, having been quite known for gambling in the area is trying to shift its focus on eco or geotourism—one that hasn’t been considered by most States. In a recent report that saw and forecasted the decline of gambling revenue, it has been suggested that Lake Tahoe should shift their focus to appeal to the more environmentally-inclined tourists. The gambling industry in the region has suffered not only because of the recession but also due in large part to rising competition from the casinos owned by the Indian tribes in California which has now prospered from the gambling barns they were before to being full-fledged casino resorts. “If you look at the long term data, the gaming industry has been declining since the ’90s,” said Trish Kelly of Sacramento’s Applied Development Economics.

The reports recommend environmentally conscious events such as Yoga and music festivals. Under the Lake Tahoe Prosperity Plan, seeks to shit the focus from gambling to green activities like the Wanderlust festival which has sold over 13,000 tickets over four days. Under the plan, Lake Tahoe is to also focus on building existing small business clusters in order to strengthen their ailing local economy which has seen a drastic decline in employment over the years. Lake Tahoe cannot rely on gambling anymore. “Gambling should be viewed as one amenity among others – including outdoor recreation – not marketed as the reason to come to Lake Tahoe” Kelly said.

The region’s shift towards a greener focus has been quite successful. Just last week thousands of yoga enthusiasts flocked the Squaw Valley Resort in celebration of the Wanderlust Yoga and Music Festival. With the success of this event, Andy Chatman, director of tourism for the North Lake Tahoe Resort Association, is optimistic that the decision to shift their focus away from gambling will see success. What makes this shift work is that gambling is not completely eradicated from the area. Since gambling revenue has been declining, the locality is looking for other means of revenue generation to depend on while still not cutting of the cash flow from the gambling industry.

We definitely have more emphasis on special events than we did two years ago,” Chatman said. Indeed, the people behind the Wanderlust Yoga and Music Festival are planning for more events like the Tahoe Music Festival which is a series of outdoor concerts. Lake Tahoe has also begun developing their other tourists attractions like biking and water sports. Just recently, Squaw Valley has reopened their bike park which has been closed for almost a decade. The influx of environmentally inclined tourists have made the other attractions like biking lucrative again.

The Wanderlust Yoga and Music Festival, which spearheaded the shift towards geotourism has seen a lot of publicity since the two years it has stated from. A number of well known yoga celebrities have been frequenting the event including John Friend, Shiva Rea, Schuyler Grant, Baron Baptiste, Seane Corn and Sianna Sherman. Those who have been part of the event said that they will definitely be coming back. One Mark Roemer, who had attended one of Sianna Sherman’s class during the festival said “This is the third time I’ve come here, but I will come to this, every time.”. The testimonials of the attendees seem to say a lot about the success of the shift Lake Tahoe took—testament to the fact that in these pressing times, there are still a lot of options that haven’t been harnessed yet as a means to remedy ailing budgets.