ASPEN — Find this ritzy ski resort a little snobby? Aspen ites are working on it.
A city tourism initiative announced this week seeks to shake off Aspen’s unfriendly reputation. The “Adopt a Tourist” promotion has city officials asking residents to volunteer to play host for visiting tourists.
City promoters say the effort aims to put a more welcoming face on a town sometimes hostile to visitors. A sign behind the bar at one popular watering hole asks, “If it’s tourist season, why can’t we shoot them?”
The adoption program was the idea of Paul MacFarlane, a St. Louis native who moved to Aspen two years ago. He was inspired by seeing locals stop to help tourists read a local map on a downtown street corner.
“The best people here are like that,” MacFarlane told the Aspen Daily News.
So far, six Aspen residents have signed up on a city Facebook page to play host for visitors. No tourists have signed on yet.
Tourism officials say they hope the adoption idea catches on and that tourists go home with real friends, not just pictures of Aspen landmarks.
