Montana Tourism

This morning, Mark and Paul read a new report that says 11 million tourists visit the great state of Montana every year.  Which is good.  But can you just imagine how many people might come here if it wasn't so damn expensive to fly into or out of our state?

After organizing the Flakes trip to Mexico for the past 15 years, Mark and Paul know all to well how expensive and inconvenient it is to fly out of Billings.  Trying to get 60 listeners together on the same plane in this town requires an act of God these days.

Here's another interesting question.  How many tourism dollars has the area lost now that snowmobiling has been outlawed at Yellowstone National Park?  They're lucky to have a couple hundred people a day in the wintertime.

Of course, the environmental activists argued that taking snowmobiles out of the part would help increase the elk population.  Turns out, the number of elk in Yellowstone has decreased substantially. But the wolves sure are getting fat.  In fact, there's so many happy wolves in the park, Mark joked that some of them are probably tired of eating elk for dinner every night.

Paul longs for the good ole days when you could run over wolves in your snowmobile.  It sounds cruel, but they just pop right up out of the snow.  It's almost like playing that old arcade game "Whack a Mole".

Here's the bottom line.  Tourists flock to Montana every year because it's one of the most beautiful places on earth.  Imagine how many people would come spend their money if we made it easier for them to get here and gave them greater access to outdoor recreation while they were here.