The concentration of employment in retail trade and services reflects the importance of tourism to the local economy. The La Plata County economy is reliant upon tourism, and tourist spending has a significant impact on retail sales. Those businesses that sell at the wholesale level or that produce goods for consumption elsewhere will not be a part of the county's retail sales volume. Some manufacturing and wholesale companies as well as the entire agricultural sector of the county fall into this category. Retail sales do provide an important insight into those sectors which provide the base for sales tax collections.
Retail sales provide the city, county, and state with a significant portion of their total tax base.
Table II-5 provides this information for the county and the state. As might be expected, hotels and motels are relatively larger in the local economy than in the state economy, while manufacturing and wholesaling are relatively smaller in the local economy than it is statewide. Colorado Department of Revenue, Annual Report, 1996. Retail Sales by Business Class and County, pp. 65-66, and Office of Tax Analysis.