Travel and Tourism board meets to discuss various topics

At the April 19 Hot Springs County Travel & Tourism board meeting held at the Quality Inn, Director Jackie Dorothy presented the financial report as Treasurer Audra Dominguez was unable to attend. The most recent deposit of lodging tax revenue was $10,787.78 which was a 13% increase compared to the previous year at the same time. The fiscal year to date lodging tax total was $191,475.75. The board voted and passed the approval to accept the financial report.

Dorothy also presented the director’s report and said, “Warm weather is on its way and the fisherman are back on the river. Last week, I attended the second workshop for the “Regional Tourism Sector Strategy” through our partnership with Central Wyoming College. PGAV has provided a pdf with their presentation which I have sent to all our board members. I especially noted that our top three overnight visits are from Casper, Billings and Cheyenne. Our Facebook presence continues to grow with our top post receiving over 1.4K organic likes, 79.4K people reached, and 114 shares. It was a scenic bird’s eye view of the canyon! Scenic and history posts appear to get the most interactions.”

Dorothy also reported that Hot Springs State Park finished second in the USA Today contest: Best Hot Springs in America! First on the contest’s was Berkely Springs, West Virginia. Hot Springs State Park beat: #3 McCredie Hot Springs, Oregon; #4 Travertine Hot Springs, California; #5 Strawberry Park Hot Springs, Colorado; #6 Boquillas Hot Springs, Texas; #7 Verde Hot Springs, Arizona; #8 Umpqua Hot Springs, Oregon; #9 Granite Hot Springs, Wyoming;  #10 Black Rock Hot Springs, Nevada.”

Dorothy continued and said, “This past month, we have met with both WYDOT and the State Park on possible locations for the Digital Welcome sign. We are also working on getting a bid for electric. We have a mock up of the sign design to review.”

During old business, the conversation about the digital sign continued an examination of the 3D model design of the sign. They plan on using Samsung technology and will use the highest resolution available. The specific dimensions still haven’t been determined because the location of the sign has not been worked out. Depending on the location there size will be decided upon.

In new business, Chairman Carl Leyba presented a cap campaign idea with some caps from Owl Creek Graphics with the new Hot Springs County Travel & Tourism logo on it. Leyba suggested purchasing 500 hats to be used by local businesses that their employees would wear on the same day to give a unified presence in the community to tourists. After discussion, the board voted and passed the approval to purchase 500 hats to a total of about $8,500. Board member Will Robinson abstained from the vote. 

Dorothy presented an overview of the Regional Tourism Sector Strategy of Fremont and Hot Springs County from Central Wyoming College (CWC) and PGAV. CWC got a grant to do this tourism study. Dorothy said, “The numbers really show a positive trend. One of the other things that I noted is that we’re staying on track with the state of Wyoming. In fact, we surpassed that. It was hard to see between it, but 40% increase in destination spending. Of course, we had a dip during COVID and even with our winter….And that Casper and Billings are our top two overnight markets.” Regarding short-term rentals, Dorothy reported that Thermopolis’ average daily rate is $161 for the last 12 months.

Florian Herrmann of Herrmann Global from Lander was present and added more discussion of the grant and its feasibility study results. The grant was for $100,000. Herrmann mentioned a possible Native American attraction idea that might gain the support of investors and draw attention to Central Wyoming. This attraction is a 5D Theater using augmented reality goggles that audience members can wear that would display various Native American subject matter in real time within the space of the event center. The location might tie together in possible relationship with Cody’s Buffalo Bill Museum and Dubois’ Military Museum. The technology of the 5D theater augmented reality goggles are currently in use at attractions in Dubai and Europe. If the results of the feasibility study become favorable, the potential investors might move forward with the idea.

The board discussed the final design of their billboard and were trying to determined if they should reuse the same design or change it. They were concerned about fading. The cost for replacing each billboard is $1,000. A new design is $250. The board will continue the design discussion later.