Ski Industry Worries that Anti-Immigrant Bills Would Hurt Business

Colorado’s ski industry stands to suffer if the state enacts Arizona-style anti-immigrant bills.  Colorado Ski Country, U.S.A., Inc., an association representing 22 Colorado ski resorts, said in a recent report that Mexico and Brazil have become two of the leading countries from which skiers come to the state.

According to an article from Fox News Latino, Colorado Ski Country’s president Melanie Mills expressed concern that “If you’re in the business of putting out the welcome mat for foreign visitors, it doesn’t help if you create an environment of suspicion.”

Mills was referring to SB11-054, which would authorize local police to arrest anyone they have “probable cause” to think is undocumented.  The industry is worried that the fear that Mexican and Latin Americans could be arrested while hear on vacation could cause them to stay away from the state entirely.

The article quotes Colorado Ski County, USA as stating that the ski industry generates $2.6 billion per year for the Colorado economy.

The potential damage to the state’s tourism business, the exorbitant litigation costs to the state of defending laws of dubious constitutionality, as well as the estimated $141 of lost meeting and convention business suffered by Arizona should guide Coloradans to take a pass on Arizona-style anti-immigrant legislation.
To read the Fox News Latino article, click here.