How Was Winter Tourism in Tuolumne County?
The lack of low snow in the Sierra Nevada at the beginning of Winter, had an interesting effect on the number of tourists who came to visit Tuolumne County, according to Lisa Mayo.
Mayo, Executive Director for the Tuolumne County Visitors Bureau, was Wednesday’s KVML “Newsmaker of the Day”.
Although the lodging numbers have not been finalized, the initial reports indicate that tourist traffic along the Highway 120 corridor was up this year. Various factors include newer lodging near the Yosemite National Park entrance and easy access into Yosemite National Park due to the initial lack of snow.
However, during the same time period, winter sports recreational traffic along Highway 108 was down from December through February, due to the same lack of snow. Most of this year’s lower snow arrived in great quantities during the month of March.
This was a bit of a reverse from last year, when access to the Yosemite National Park valley floor from Highway 120 was cut off for several months. That affected the Highway 120 corridor with much less traffic. Winter tourism was low in 2017 from Groveland to the Park’s entrance. On the other side, with the heavy amount of snow along Highway 108, recreational traffic was way up in 2017.
According to Mayo, “Now that Spring is here and activities in the Mother Lode are beginning to rev up, we believe this will be a tremendous year for visitation. Tourists will soon find great hikes throughout the lower Sierra, good camping, golf courses, waterfalls to discover and plenty of great events to participate in.”
Last year was the grand opening of the new Tuolumne County Visitors Bureau office, located in downtown Sonora at 193 South Washington Street.
“Compared to the old location, our foot traffic is way up. Both tourists and local residents are discovering what Tuolumne County has to offer” said Mayo.
The website for more information is http://www.visittuolumne.com/ and the telephone number is (209) 533-4420.
The “Newsmaker of the Day” is heard each weekday morning at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML.
