End of the Line for Dude Ranches?

The Old West’s dude ranches have been dwindling for years, but home on the range this summer is starting to look like an Indian massacre. “Dude ranches in Colorado and elsewhere in the West are only at 60 to 70 percent capacity this summer, the Cody, Wyoming-based Dude Ranchers Association (DRA) admitted to the Associated Press,” said milehighonthecheap.com. That has translated into much lower prices. “With business down, some ranches are offering shorter stays, slashing already low children’s rates and including additional extras such as free massages,” the site said. The AP said the current problem for dude ranches is that they are not attracting enough ‘dudes and dudettes.’” Even before this summer, however, “the number of dude ranches is slowly decreasing,” wrote The Wall Street Journal more than two years ago...HotelInteractive