Will the real commodity please stand up? Skiing and “touristic” real estate in Eagle Valley, Colorado

Abstract

This paper weighs the shift from an economy driven primarily by ski tourism to one driven by rapid “touristic real estate” development in Vail and the surrounding Eagle Valley, Colorado, USA. Intensive, team ethnography was concerned with how cultural values, community life, and social dynamics respond to the compression of residents' time and their diminished access to quality living space. Such issues as worker housing shortages and the explosion of “trophy” homes, the decline of “ski bums” and rise of migrant work forces, as well as environmental issues surrounding expansion in the valley are addressed. Finally, we ponder how local dynamics relate to broader regional, national, and global currents.

Citation

Hautzinger, S. (2002), "Will the real commodity please stand up? Skiing and “touristic” real estate in Eagle Valley, Colorado", Research in Economic Anthropology (Research in Economic Anthropology, Vol. 21), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 343-366. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0190-1281(02)21013-6