SANTA FE, NM - A partnership between the New Mexico Tourism Department and the New Mexico Small Business Development Center to offer business counseling services to tourism-related small businesses helped save 830 tourism jobs and secure over $27 million in equity investments in 2020.

Since the launch of this partnership, tourism business counselors have conducted 11,290 documented contacts to tourism-related small businesses and provided 2,300 hours of direct business counseling to business owners.

The tourism business counseling program provided direct counseling assistance to 655 tourism-related small businesses in New Mexico. Of those tourism-related small businesses that received counseling assistance, 43 percent were minority-owned businesses, 25 percent were women-owned businesses and 24 percent were veteran-owned businesses.

“Early on, we recognized the need to provide direct support to tourism businesses as the COVID-19 crisis began to unfold. We’re very fortunate of the partnership and the critical support it provided to tourism businesses in 2020, and we’re hopeful that further investment in tourism recovery will bring brighter days in 2021 and beyond,” said Cabinet Secretary Jen Paul Schroer.

“The NMSBDC is excited to continue our partnership with the New Mexico Tourism Department. It is imperative that the new and updated information surrounding opportunities available to all small business owners and in particular to our state's most highly hit industry be shared as widely and quickly as possible. This partnership gives way to making that happen. We are prepared to answer questions, direct folks to additional resources such as WESST, SCORE, and VBOC and to help New Mexico’s entrepreneurs navigate through these unprecedented times,” said NMSBDC Executive State Director Russell Wyrick.

NMSBDC also offers a financial projection tool to help tourism-related businesses understand different financial scenarios and make the best decisions for their business, employees, and assets. This financial projection tool is available through counseling appointments with the NMSBDC.

To learn more about the tourism business counseling program and schedule an appointment with a tourism business counselor, tourism business owners can visit the NMTD website. Business owners can also schedule an appointment by phone:

Northern New Mexico - (505) 300-2781

Southern New Mexico - (575) 800-0345