Balancing Mountain Tourism and Environmental Sustainability

Fall is taking over the Colorado mountains as aspens erupt with yellows and oranges, a spectacle that draws annual throngs of “leaf peeping” tourists to the area. As many flock to scenic byways and hiking, the seasonal influx reveals a pressing concern: how to conserve the environment and educate visitors about what sustainable mountain tourism entails.

“[Colorado] is really starting to talk about destination stewardship,” said Natalie Ooi, a teaching associate professor and the lead for sustainability in the outdoor industry specialization at the University of Colorado Boulder. “How do we better educate the visitors who come? How do we better manage the impacts? And how do we better disperse the impacts and be more sustainable as a destination so we don’t ruin the very reasons why people come here?”

Colorado’s tourism industry contributed $28.5 billion to the state economy and supported 188,210 jobs in 2024. Visitors to mountain towns play an important role in how many people make a living.

“I say that tourism, in a lot of ways, fuels our community,” said Lizzy Scully, CEO of Four Corners Guides, a base camp and adventure guide service in Montrose, CO. “Tourism is a driver of the economy here, so if people don’t have money to spend to come here and visit, then the local grocery store is kind of screwed. People won’t have money to buy packer rafts. It’s like, there’s sort of this chain reaction.”

The leaf peeping phenomenon, while a major economic driver, comes with consequences. According to the Colorado State Patrol, during a two-month period in the fall of 2024, troopers investigated 212 injury and fatal crashes in western Colorado. The majority of the accidents were caused by drivers traveling fast on winding roads, lane violations or being distracted by the scenery. 

“It used to be fun to go see the fall colors, but now that it’s gotten trendy, it just makes me anxious, and the traffic is horrendous,” said Natalia Johnston, a Boulder resident. “There are so many people, and it’s the least relaxing experience.” 

In an effort to mitigate these risks and make the roads safer during peak tourism times, the Colorado State Patrol has updated its “Super Cruising in Colorado” web resource to help visitors navigate mountain roads safely.

“Whether someone loses control from speeding through an area with tight curves or being distracted in an area with no shoulder, loose gravel and wildlife, two-lane roads leave no time for error,” said Major Williams, District 5 Commander with the Colorado State Patrol. “Make driving your singular focus.”

Tourism also introduces serious environmental degradation. The Blue Lakes area in the San Juan Mountains near Ridgway, Colorado, has been closed for most of 2025 under a visitor use management plan to address overuse and environmental damage. 

Ooi emphasizes that these effects to achieve sustainable tourism are less about a utopian vision of only positive impacts and more about balance. She explains that “it’s impossible to have only positive impacts… there is always going to be a trade-off,” whether that’s building paved parking lots to handle growing visitation or addressing housing shortages for local workers.

“Maybe we have to develop a paved parking lot and paved trails in a popular area that locals would prefer to be kept dirt, because it feels more authentic. But if you have more people visiting, you want to make sure you’re managing those resources.”

She also points out that the traditional model of Destination Marketing Organizations is shifting toward “destination management” and “destination stewardship,” emphasizing visitor education and protecting the very resources that attract people. Sustainable tourism, Ooi notes, is not one-size-fits-all but relies on a system of approaches that balance conservation with opportunity, ensuring that tourism remains valuable across communities.

For Ooi, sustainability is recognizing those trade-offs while ensuring that tourism “can continue into the future for future generations to be able to benefit from.” She even suggests that tourism or outdoor recreation is viewed as a panacea in some rural communities.

“I think many rural communities sometimes see tourism and outdoor recreation as somewhat of a silver bullet,” Ooi said. “To bring in outside dollars and be a real boon for the community. But it is also an industry that is very susceptible to macro environmental change.

Scully says sustainable tourism begins with protecting the land itself. “Permits are really important,” she explained. “They’re super irritating to get and time-consuming, but they safeguard our public lands. Without management, the lands get trashed.” 

That connection between stewardship and survival is deeply personal. “If we don’t have public lands to recreate on, then I have no business,” Scully said. “And more importantly, everybody loses access.”

Scully believes sustainability is as much about community as conservation. “To me, sustainable tourism is people who are local or regional utilizing the resources and giving back to the community,” she said. “I don’t ever care about making loads of money. I just want to pay my bills and support other people in the community.”

The season of fall colors highlights a critical question for the state’s tourism industry. How to welcome visitors without compromising the beauty that draws them. For guides and residents alike, the goal is to enjoy the outdoors, like the fall spectacle, but do so in a way that ensures it’s still enjoyable next year and the year after that.

“I think it’s more of a question of how do we influence sustainable tourism in the aspects of kind of looking at the policy and lawmakers and the land managers and what we want them to change and not really hounding on tourism as this negative thing because people are coming into our towns and ruining our camps and our rivers,” Scully said. “It’s hard because I think it’s a really easy thing to hate, especially coming from a small town, when you see a lot of people move in, buy big houses, et cetera. It’s hard because I do see both sides of it, but it’s kind of interesting how you have to look at the bigger picture, (but) I don’t see tourism as being a bad thing … It’s how do we implement sustainable tourism.”

Sustainable mountain tourism entails making efforts to benefit the environment and the local community you visit. Buying from local businesses and adhering to principles such as Leave No Trace demonstrates respect for wildlife, the ecosystem and natural resources. It’s all about adjusting to the priorities and norms of the location you’re visiting.

“If you’re from Colorado, there are certain expectations and understandings of if you’ve grown up in the outdoors, of how to act and what’s appropriate behavior on the trails, but people who are coming from elsewhere don’t necessarily come from that same frame of reference,” Ooi said. “And to educate them, we have to do so nicely.”