For years, Crista Valentino felt uncomfortable about how Jackson, Wyoming, her adopted home, promoted itself as a tourist destination. Ads showed cringe-worthy montages of frolicking bear cubs and jagged peaks in nearby Grand Teton National Park. “I always felt a little bit icky, like we were marketing Jackson as a commodity,” she said.
The Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board was primarily responsible. Established in 2011 to promote tourism during the slower months, it ran ad campaigns funded by 60% of Teton County’s portion of the state’s lodging tax. By the time Valentino became a board member in 2017, tourism was booming even as complaints about “over-tourism” rose among Jackson’s roughly…
