Grand County and its residents received a very good Christmas gift this year: information.

This information is housed at GrandCounty365.com, an excellent source for all kinds of data that’s been researched and edited to be a reliable source of information for business people, government officials and the residents of Grand County.

This resource has come into the public realm through the work of Grand County Economic Development and DiAnn Butler. The site is mostly paid for through a $100,000 grant from Grand County Colorado Tourism Board and $400,000 from the federal Economic Development Administration as part of a local tourism revitalization grant.

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This is an excellent website with tons of information presented in a pleasing, intuitive and useful way. It is a great resource for anyone vaguely interested in the economy of Grand County.

It is a project “focused on promoting sustainable travel and tourism experiences year-round throughout Grand County.” The site accepts that tourism is the major economic driver for Grand County “and will continue to support the future growth of its many local communities.” But because the tourism industry is impacted by factors such as pandemics and natural disasters, the information on this website has been crafted to help the county have a resiliency plan to “weather challenges, current and future.”

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But let me make clear, the site is useful for many businesses, governments and individuals who are not exactly tourism entities.

This is what I mean: A town government that has a primary mission of serving its residents might not see tourism as a top worry. Yet tourists are many of the people who come to that town and spend money there, fattening the coffers.

A cowboy who is out wrangling cattle in the far western reaches of Grand County might not see tourism as a concern. But the truth is that tourists fund the guest ranches, which pay many local wranglers. And tourists and second-home owners contribute to sales taxes and property taxes, which improve the roads that help wranglers get their horse trailers to the range.

A plumbing service provider or an electrician might not necessarily see tourists as part of their business concerns, but it’s tourism that pays the salaries of many people who are paying those electricians and plumbers.

Tourism, in other words, really is Grand County’s main industry.

The FAQ part of the website does a good job of addressing its worth and value, answering questions such as, “What is the purpose of the Grand County Tourism Revitalization Strategy,” “Why is the federal government funding projects like this” and “Who is managing this project?”

The information on the site is exhaustive but useful. There is a hotel attraction package that serves as a valuable resource “to inform prospective hotel developers of key data that may influence hotel site selection.” This is basically a marketing study and analysis that usually can cost outfits a large sum of money.

There is an accommodations summary that zeroes in on lodging capacity and gives a snapshot of what’s available. There is even a trip planner that can be used by people in the tourism industry to market their products and offerings.

But there’s more than just tourism and tourism development information on the site.

There is a fascinating section called a sensitivity indicator, which highlights “various hazards affecting local businesses, including environmental, economic and social impacts.”

Then there’s a market analysis snapshot, which gives good information about the types of businesses and market trends throughout the county, and the existing conditions section has tons of information on demographic, workforce trends, tourisms trends and other data.

The data summary spreadsheet puts together the latest tourism and county demographic information, which will be updated annually, and the economic asset inventory section puts together tourism-related businesses, which can help identify industry gaps and track businesses throughout the county.

The goal is for this to be a living website that is updated to reflect evolving trends and changes in our region.

Patrick Brower is the enterprise facilitator for Grand Enterprise Initiative. He is also the author of “Killdozer: The True Story of the Colorado Bulldozer Rampage.” He can be reached at 970-531-0632 or pbrower@consultbrower.com.