Tourists told not to visit Lake Tahoe by major travel guide. Here’s a local counterargument

Despite the pleas of a notable travel guide for people to avoid Lake Tahoe this winter for its own good, Tahoe businesses and resorts are telling visitors the opposite: come, but be responsible.

A week ahead of the opening of the ski season at Lake Tahoe’s ski resorts, Fodor’s Travel had put the region on its “No List” as a destination to avoid. The concern is climate change and the effects of a growing population on the lake’s clarity.

“Heavy traffic crushes Tahoe’s roads into fine dust and debris and pumps tailpipe emissions into the air,” the guide said. “When it rains or snow melts, stormwater transports these fine pollution particles into the Lake, clouding its cobalt blue waters.”

“For all the good it can do in bolstering local economies and connecting cultures, tourism is a significant contributor to climate change,” the guide continued. And to alleviate the stress on Lake Tahoe, the guide recommends a sharp curbing of traffic on its shores.

However, Kirstin Guinn, spokesperson for the North Lake Tahoe Resort Association, said it’s not just a matter of stopping tourists.

“We’re not telling people to not visit Lake Tahoe,” she said in an interview with The Bee. “We want people to visit Lake Tahoe ... this is a gorgeous place that people need to experience and it belongs to all of us.”

It boils down to traveling and living responsibly, she explained.

To mitigate some of the negative effects on the environment, the North Lake Tahoe Resort Association asks visitors to be mindful when visiting the region and adopt habits such as abandoning single-use water bottles and drinking Tahoe tap water, packing trash out of trails and wildlife areas, and never leaving food in your car.

Visitors and residents are also encouraged to use alternate means of transportation such as the Tahoe Area Regional Transit Connect, a passenger van that offers curb-to-curb service and can be hailed through the ease of a phone app.

Other resorts in the basin also offer their own “micro-transit solutions,” Guinn said, such as the Mountaineer, which offers free transportation in Olympic Valley and Alpine Meadows with the goal of getting people out of their cars when it comes to skiing or shopping.

“This is not just about visitors, it’s about every human being in the Tahoe region,” Guinn said.