Santa Fe – Tribes should be looking toward tourism that promotes the culture of American Indians – rather than casinos – for their economic future, says a former U.S. senator who was the only American Indian in the Senate.
“Indian tourism has a long way to go,” Ben Nighthorse Campbell said in a speech at a cultural tourism forum Thursday at the Institute of American Indian Arts here.
“Either we do it or someone else is going to do it,” he added.
One big draw in New Mexico, for example, is the annual Santa Fe Indian Market, Campbell said.
“There were some very enterprising folks out there who began to realize even if there was no financial award for being Indian, certainly their images and their life styles could be marketed to a majority population,” he said.
Recreational-vehicle parks have provided development for reservations, said Campbell, a Northern Cheyenne who represented Colorado in the Senate from 1993 to 2004.
Six tribes have built lucrative RV parks in California and eight more are being developed, Campbell said.
The idea is appealing in the Southwest because of its many national parks and monuments, he said.
San Juan Pueblo’s Ohkay RV Park is the only such American Indian park currently in operation in New Mexico, said Travis Suazo, Indian tourism program manager at the state Tourism Department.
