Lodging tax committee formed

In preparation for the coming election and the vote on the new lodging tax, a new political action committee was formed to assist the Travel and Tourism Board in fundraising efforts.

This tax will not be money taken from the local residents, but instead, it will be collected by motels from tourists who stay at their venues.

The reason the PAC was created is that the Tourism Board cannot lobby for itself. Greg Willson will be the PAC’s chair and Meri Ann Rush will be the Treasurer. Willson explained to the board that there are three phases to its implementation.

The first phase is the PAC’s origination where it will register with the State. The second phase will be about fundraising and talking to businesses and who will benefit from it. The third phase will be about spending. Their goals will be about educating the public about what this is and to advertise in newspapers, radio and use yard signs. 

During the director’s report, Jackie Dorothy talked about the recent photo contest where they have more than 80 entries. She suggested making it an annual event since the response was so successful and to have an art show where participants can show their photos for three weeks before a vote on winners.

One entry this year was a video of a T-Rex in the buffalo pasture running around and roaring. It earned 2,400 views within its first week. The video was created by Uwe Ritter.

Dorothy reported on the board’s digital reach and how it’s important to let people know Thermopolis and the County are here. She also said that people are afraid to fly and are driving instead. RV camps are getting booked till the fall as well. Many tourists are calling in or doing walk-ins.  

Regarding the Tourism’s billboard campaign, they looked over several designs to replace the faded billboards they use for advertising the town and county. 

Bob Spain reported that he was reappointed by the Town Council for his position on the Travel and Tourism Board.

Via a Zoom session, the online marketing firm Truly 360 gave a presentation on how their work with Google will help the search results for the various entities in Hot Springs County. If the county uses their services, the county will get to determine what searches look like. They can control what images and results appear. This will allow significant customization for presenting the county to tourists. 

Google and Truly 360 decided to focus on Hot Springs County and other parts of Wyoming as a testing ground for this new opportunity. Not only will searching users get to see the county online, Truly 360 will be able to provide analytics to the county.

All of this data will be able to help target customers and to make adjustments when needed in marketing campaigns. 

Finally, in their Rocky Mountain Lodging Report, it showed a significant drop in percentages of occupancy and also the average room rates when comparing 2019 to 2020. The drop started in the month of February and reached its bottom in April. After reaching its floor an uptick began to show the beginning of a recovery. The significant drop in the collection of the lodging tax revenue was due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation.