What kinds of tourism does the City of El Paso promote?

EL PASO, Texas (CBS4) — A spokesperson for the City of El Paso told CBS4’s John Purvis that the city has no tourism masterplan, but the city does have a strategic plan that focuses on two types of tourism.

“We’re talking about ecotourism as well as historical tourism,” said the City of El Paso Communications Director, Laura Cruz-Acosta.

For weeks, Purvis has been reporting on El Paso’s rich history and how it goes unnoticed by many El Pasoans and visitors.

The city says it works on making our history available to anyone interested through the “Visit El Paso” app and website.

There’s also another kind of tourism the city’s now highlighting, Ecotourism, which focuses on exploring our region’s natural wonders and history by foot power rather than horsepower.

“What I mean by that,” Cruz-Acosta told Purvis, “Is we’ve been developing trail systems and we’ve been developing partners in different parts of the city. Whether it be the Paso Del Norte Health Foundation and the County of El Paso in order to build out a county-wide trail system.”

Veronica Castro is the city’s Tourism Director and she said, “El Paso has 400 years of history, which is great for us to go to tell the message to everyone. But we also have the outdoors. We’re the only city in Texas with the mountains. So, that’s something we’re very proud of and we really can pay the promise.”

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City tourism officials also note it’s often difficult to maintain access to various historical areas around town because of property rights and safety issues.

For example, El Paso has a lot of tunnels running to, or across the border, dating back to Prohibition and when Asian workers were barred from living in the U.S.

Purvis told Cruz-Acosta that people seem fascinated by that history and by other cities like Seattle that offer tunnel tours.

“But it really depends on the accessibility of some of those projects,” Cruz-Acosta said. “Your example of Seattle, are they safe? They work very hard in order to develop and make sure that they’re safe. Some of the work that we do is really about making sure that it’s safe for the community. Is it safe for them to enter? We can certainly reference it. But is it safe? No. How much are we having to invest in terms of making sure that we are able to develop those projects?”

And that may be the toughest question of all for the El Paso community to answer.

How much money is the community willing to spend? And how many resources should it expend to safely preserve and promote its history as well as provide the attractions that people would be willing to travel hundreds of miles to see?

Those are ultimately political questions that are answered at the ballot box and through advocacy.

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