Travel and Tourism board meets

At the November Hot Springs County Travel and Tourism board meeting held at the Quality Inn, treasurer Audra Dominguez gave the financial report for lodging tax revenue collected in September. Dominguez said that the flooding of Yellowstone National Park still had an impact on revenue. September’s revenue was $26,212.08, which was down $2,803.57 from the previous year, a 10% change. However, Dominguez said they are “still doing well” with record-breaking months. The board voted and passed to approve the financial report. 

Jackie Dorothy gave the director’s report and said they attended the Fall Summit and “received several shout-outs for the great job Thermopolis and the tourism board are doing.” Dorothy added there are new programs and co-ops being introduced. Dorothy was most impressed by the Travelocity co-op and Destination Optimization.

Dorothy added “Local restaurants and hotels have said they continue to have strong numbers despite WYDOT showing a decrease in overall traffic for August and September for Hot Springs County compared to 2021.”

In old business, the board is still working on their “What’s New” handout and continuing to get input from the board on it. Chamber of Commerce CEO Meri Ann was a guest and mentioned that the connecting trail between Roundtop and T-Hill is open and might be good to include in the handout. 

Chairman Carl Leyba said to Rush and Chamber president Howie Samelson that they are working on the memorandum of understanding (MOU) and will get it to them. The MOU is a contact for the Chamber to have wage reimbursement funded by the Tourism Board. 

Accountant Jean Skelton introduced herself to the board as she is their new CPA and said she is “looking forward to working with Travel and Tourism.” Skelton and Dominguez will work together on their annual report filings. 

Dorothy presented to the board a new logo for their organization. The logo has a large scripted font saying “Thermopolis” with “Hot Springs Wyoming” at the top in smaller letters. The board voted to pass the approval to accept the new logo.

Regarding the digital sign project, Hot Springs State Park Supervisor Kevin Skates came to discuss the sign’s location. Skates said that rules in Cheyenne for special use permits, used for events such as Discovery Days, have changed and the state is “trying to get a piece of the pie.”

Skates then said, “I don’t know if with this billboard you are trying to make money or it’s just information. If it’s not a money maker, we probably shouldn’t have any problem, but I don’t know for a fact. We might have to do a special use permit.”

Dorothy presented to the board a Wyoming Tourism Data report, which showed the financial impact of the Yellowstone National Park flood through credit card data. Dorothy said in July Hot Springs County had a decrease in credit card spending by about 1% but after the flood, it rose by 24.5% This increase was 72% for accommodations, 13.2% for food, and 10.9% for transportation. For specialty retail, it was 2.3%.