SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL SECTION
GOLDEN
OPPORTUNITY
Business tourism activities abound in Gold Country
by Jessica Laskey
Tourism might be the last thing
on our minds in 2020. But as
California slowly starts to open
up again from the shelter-inplace
orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic,
getting out of Dodge for a day or
two into the beauty of the Sierra foothills
Gold Country — for business as well as
pleasure — can provide a much-needed
breath of fresh air.
“People need (the outdoors) right
now,” says Daniella Faieta, director of
the Coloma Resort in El Dorado County.
“Visitors can be safe within their own site
in the open air — which will hopefully
help mitigate reckless recreation in other
locations — so people can get out and
enjoy nature safely.”
El Dorado County represents the
largest percentage of travel spending in
the Sierra foothills region — 61 percent in
2017, according to Jody Franklin, executive
director of tourism for the El Dorado
County Visitors Authority. And travel
spending in El Dorado has been steadily
increasing each year, thanks to its diversity
of accommodations, outdoor activities,
food service, art and entertainment.
“El Dorado County brings you the
core of the outdoor lifestyle without
the cost,” says John Krueger, founder
and CEO of National Real Estate Market
Advisors, which works with the County
of El Dorado. “You have all the form
and substance in one place without the
expense of Napa or Lake Tahoe’s north
basin and options for people with different
tastes — skiing, wineries, hiking,
rafting and agritourism, like Apple Hill.
The diversification of the El Dorado
County economy makes it a phenomenal
hidden gem, both in environment and in
business — you have small mom-andpop
(businesses), giant corporations,
aerospace, you name it.”
The Sierra foothills includes eight
California counties, but it’s Gold Country
— with places like Sutter’s Mill in Coloma,
where gold was discovered in 1848 —
and the nearly 50 wineries that call El
Dorado County home that tourists tend
to think of most.
“There’s a diversity that we offer in
El Dorado County that you don’t get in
other regions,” says Kara Sather, executive
director of the El Dorado Winery
Association. “Pre-Prohibition, El Dorado
was one of the top three thriving wine
regions in California. It’s taken us a while
to get back to that acreage, but now we
have more than 70 commercially grown
varietals. You can experience the entire
world of wine here.”
July 2020 | comstocksmag.com 87