Keys campaign discussed

The Travel and Tourism Board met Tuesday afternoon at the Hot Springs County Museum. Director Amanda Moeller provided a financial report, noting the lodging tax receipt this year was $7,151.

"Overall for the year, we're still seven percent higher than last year," Moeller said, "and we're still almost $10,000 higher than we have been in years past, for this same time."

Moeller also reported billboards in Worland and Waltman would be re-faced, noting the former would cost $1,100 that was not budgeted. There was $772 available in the Billboard Maintenance Budget, and a motion was approved to transfer the remaining $328 from the contingency.

Also with regard to advertising venues, Moeller spoke of the Wyo Trivia movie ads. The price is $4,860, though Moeller noted more movie screens have been added. Last year saw the ads on a total of 53 screens; since, six screens have been added for Sheridan and 10 for Laramie. Advertising is also provided on the Wyomovies online site.

"We're getting a lot of advertising for that little bit of money," she said. A motion was approved to transfer $1,260 from the Winter Campaign fund to provide for the advertising.

Looking at special event funding applications, Moeller said 18 applications were received, with a total of $48,187. This is roughly $17,000 more than requested from last year, Chairman Carl Leyba noted. Moeller said many events have been funded for some time. Others are not asking for large amounts, or they are cooperatives with other events. There are three new events this year.

Leyba was concerned about whether the revenues from hotels in the fall would be up this year, which could impact the events as well as other businesses. The board planned to visit after the regular meeting and discuss which events they would fund.

The Keys to the City campaign, in which key chains are given to visitors at hotels, providing them with other discounts around town, was successful in Moeller's opinion. Hotels gave out 1,413 of the 1,500 keys, she said. A total of 10 lodging establishments participated, along with nine food-related businesses and 22 attractions or retail, for a total of 41 business participants on the list, as well as two businesses that still honored the chains.

There are mixed reviews on the event, Moeller said, as usual, with some business owners saying they saw increased business, and others saying they didn't. Among the feedback were comments to run the program longer. Moeller said it was originally set up for three months to motivate people to use the keys.

Looking at the event as a hard businessperson, Board Member Ernest Cummings was concerned money is being left on the table. People are going to come to Thermopolis regardless, he said, and he questioned why businesspeople would choose to give a discount and lose money. Hotels have increased their rates over the past eight months, Cummings noted, but occupancy has gone down.

Leyba explained he looks at a STAR report, which compares five or six hotels in the area. Occupancies are down, but the cost of business is on the rise, resulting in rate increases. He noted 10 percent of the regular stays are being lost due to age.

Cummings doesn't want to see the Keys promotion go away, but said there is no way to tell if people come are coming to Thermopolis because of it.

Vice President Kevin Skates said the people who receive keys might come back to town because they remember the Keys. Treasurer Angie Guyon sees it as a "thank you," because most don't know about it. They were going to stay here anyway, Guyon said, and a discount might be just enough to draw visitors into local businesses.

"They're coming to Thermopolis anyway," Guyon said. "They like to soak, they like to see the dinosaur center, they want just a little piece and quiet. They're coming anyway. I see the key as a thank you from us as town members and local businesses."

Moeller reported on the governor's conference. Last year, she said, it was all about Trip Advisor. This year, it was all "content is key." The State of Wyoming has a new advertising company this year; with that change, "Forever West" is no longer the slogan, or logo. It's now "That's WY."

It was a good conference, Moeller said, with plenty of good sessions. The meeting with Berkley Young was productive.

"We discussed not so much our community and our advertising," Moeller said. He was very complementary on advertising, and the utilization of funding, but it really boiled down to the role of the board in the community and as a whole.

"His comments were that the role of the board is to make sure that the community has something worth building toward, that the community has a plan. And it's the board's role to work with community leadership to maintain that." She noted this does not apply only to Travel and Tourism, but other boards as well.

During a presentation, Young used a billboard featuring the dinosaur center as a slide, tying it in with The Good Dinosaur and recognizing Thermopolis as one of the top four destinations in Wyoming.

Moeller also provided a preview of the Tourism app, scheduled to launch in May.

Legend Rock is one of 20 archaeological sites in the country listed in a USA Today online poll, it was reported. People can go to http://www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-archaeological-site and vote once a day through April 11.