Our region is home to seven of the state's nine destination resorts -- and many struggled during the economic downturn.

Regonal economist Damon Runberg says these type of jobs pay more than the typical service sector positions.

"So they have a huge impact.  These resorts pay significantly more than tourism because of the real estate jobs, so they pay better than tourism recreation type jobs.  And if this trend continues I expect we wil  be back to pre recession levels in the next year or so."

Destination resorts like Tetherow and Pronghorn are building new hotels and Black Butte Ranch is redesigning its lodge and pool.