ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—Colorado’s tourism chief is apologizing for disparaging remarks he made about New Mexico to the Wall Street Journal.
After the paper ran an article about New Mexico’s efforts to boost tourism through a rebranding campaign, Colorado tourism director Al White responded, “So how about this for a theme: ‘New Mexico…just south of Paradise!’ That would have saved New Mexico the $2.5 million it spent on the effort.”
White tells KRQE-TV ( ) it was just an attempt at humor and he meant no ill will. In fact, he says the comments weren’t even original. He says about a decade ago someone from Wyoming said the same thing about Colorado.
New Mexico Secretary of Tourism Monique Jacobson says she didn’t take the comment personally and invited White to come south to ski.
