I would bet that of the $525 MILLION DOLLAR figure, that 60% comes from railroad tourism, and the remainder comes from Mesa Verde tourism. Perhaps it is even more lopsided than that.
I really doubt that it is anywhere near 60%. There is too much other development in Durango -- Durango is a regional shopping destination, has a decent sized college, lots of commercial development, and lots and lots of active outdoor recreation, including rafting, cayaking, mountain biking and sking.
I think the average railfan underestimates the economic impact of outdoor recreational activities. People come from around the world to mountain bike around Durango. You can see this for yourself by using your favorite web search engine. For example, a google search for the words "durango" and "biking" yields 916,000 results.... while a google search for "durango" and "railroad" returns 505,000 results, which is a bit more than half of the biking search.
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Chris Webster
[www.speakeasy.org]