How to make Thermopolis a destination

During the Tuesday meeting of Hot Springs Travel and Tourism a motion passed 4-1, with Rick Tudor voting “no,” to approve a contract with Young Strategies Inc., for firm representative Berkeley Young to have a conference with board members at the Governor’s Conference in Cheyenne Feb. 25- 27.

The motion included a contingency that money be obtained through the Technical Assistance Co-op Program offered through the Wyoming Office of Tourism. The program would provide 50 percent matching up to $5,000. A motion passed unanimously for Moeller to pursue the funding, which will bring the cost of the meeting with Young from $15,640 to $10,640. If the funding is not received, the conference with Young won’t be scheduled.

Moeller pointed out in her discussions with Young they discussed lodging aspects such as who is coming to town, how long they’re staying, where they’re staying and what they’re spending their money on, as well as how to make Thermopolis more of a destination. The meeting with Young at the Governor’s Conference would be to provide suggestions to the board, but he also wants to meet with individual hoteliers regarding how they might improve their businesses.

Kevin Skates there are always questions coming up as to who is staying here and why, and there isn’t really any data to provide. He said the information would be good for the board to have, to move forward as to what they can do beyond helping funding special events.

Tudor was concerned any questions asked might not be answerable because local data is not available, and the information provided by Young would be a generic package geared more toward visitor information from the Jackson and Cheyenne area, and not really anything to do with those who visit Thermopolis. Moeller said she doesn’t expect the information will be like that, as Young is familiar with Thermopolis and knows the community. She also pointed out there are several opportunities he will use to gather information regarding people who stay in Thermopolis.

Moeller also pointed out the information might also be usable by the chamber of commerce, town council, county commissioners or any organization in town. Skates said the reports could be shared with others, to work toward making Thermopolis more of a destination.

Funding was allocated to provide for additional visitor guides. Moeller said in May she had nine boxes of the guides in May, but by the end of June she had none and there are several places requesting them. She pointed out they went through 40,000 copies of the guide in under 13 months.

For another 40,000 guides, it would cost $10,117. Should the money be for the guides be spent from the budget for additional advertising, it would mean no additional advertising. Carl Leyba made a motion, later approved, to allocate $12,223.68 for 50,000 guides, used from the contingency fund and additional advertising funding. Leyba pointed out ordering that many would be enough to get by and provide time for any corrections for the 2018 guide.

Moeller also spoke about the possibility of Fireball Run coming to town. She explained the show is put on by Amazon and there is an opportunity to apply for Thermopolis to be on their route. Moeller said it would take a community effort to put it together, but there is an opportunity to make some money and bring a lot of people here.

Because a community effort is required for the show, Moeller said they are working on it now to get everything lined up before applying; the application period is in August.

Moeller reported the key chains for the annual Keys to the City event have been ordered. It was expected the key chains, ordered in June, were to be here by the end of September or early October. However, the proof was wrong so a couple additional weeks were necessary to correct it and they should be here by mid-October. That pushes back the start date for the event, which was planned for Oct. 1

Television advertisements for Keys to the City are planned, but will not run until it is known for sure that the key chains are coming. The chains are distributed to visitors to Thermopolis hotels, and provide them with discounts all over town.

With regard to the financial report, Moeller reported lodging tax receipts were down for July, at $20,092.93 compared to $28,630.52 a year ago. She pointed out it has been like that across the state, not just in the lodging sector but also in retail and dining. An upswing is expected for the August receipts, but that won’t be known until next month.

The familiarization (FAM) tour is coming Sept. 29. The Wyoming Office of Tourism will be here with four tour operators. Moeller said the tour would be quick, as the operators are not here very long. Stops on the tour include Hot Springs State Park, Wyoming Dinosaur Center and Merlin’s Hide Out.

Television commercials are going, Moeller said, with three stations currently running them and the fourth scheduled to run them beginning Sept. 25. The thermopolis.com website is undergoing an update, Moeller said, and the new site should hopefully be ready to within a month.

The board also did a recap of the recent solar eclipse. Moeller said she spoke with a couple tourists from Denver and they really enjoyed being here for it. She noted they chose to stay a day after the eclipse to avoid traffic.

Tudor said he wouldn’t be surprised to find several people spent multiple days here because he saw four days of increased business.

Angie Guyon said the dinosaur center was busy, and though there weren’t many attending the movies planned for the event there were a lot who attended the talks.

Moeller also noted the upcoming public meeting concerning re-use of the old airport, scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 2 at the county annex. She encouraged board members to attend.