Travel and tourism board discusses billboard use

At the October Hot Springs County Travel & Tourism board meeting, treasurer Audra Dominguez gave the financial report and said the lodging tax distribution for September 30, 2024, was $25,601.04. In September 2023, the previous lodging tax was $26,482.25. Additionally, for August 2024, the lodging tax was $33,285.36 compared to August 2023, which was $37,638.88. The board voted and passed the approval to accept the financial report.

The lodging tax is on the general election ballot again for this year. Hot Springs County residents do not pay this tax. It is collected from tourists using lodging industries, such as hotels, motels, or short-term lodging, etc. 

In old business, tourism director Angie Guyon discussed insurance for the board. The board wanted to have coverage for all officers, not just the treasurer, since they have the ability to sign checks. The board voted and passed the approval to have D&O insurance and a surety bond for all officers. The policy is for $1 million and costs $1,110 per year.

Guyon welcomed new board member Jess Weber who was recently appointed by the Hot Springs County Commissioners. Weber has worked at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center for the past seven years and has much experience with tourists.

Regarding the board’s use of billboards, Guyon and the board discussed resurfacing the billboards they currently own. They seek to remove the image of a woman in water and have designs made specifically for each different location, as passing by tourists would have different experiences or goals on their trip. 

During the discussion, the use of digital billboards in the various regions was brought up. Guyon said she would investigate those potential options. Also discussed was the question of a return on investment using billboards. One board member was not 100% against billboards but wanted to do better with other methods. The board voted and passed the approval to resurface six billboards through the Wyoming regions, but not theirs located in Shoshoni at this time.

Guyon and the board discussed the possibility of purchasing some previously edited tourism videos from Schenck Photography and to also hire Jeb Schenck on a retainer for one year to shoot still professional photographs of various features of Hot Springs County. Guyon said she needs to gain assets for use in a variety of formats as their library is very limited. Guyon also proposed holding a photography contest for participants to potentially win prizes so that they can gather photographs from a wide variety of sources. The board decided to table Schenck Photography’s videos and retainer so they can gain more information from him regarding the details of his services. 

 Guyon discussed with the board that they have a new Google phone number that will be directed toward her phone number. This Google number will be used for all invoicing, their website and tourism related matters. Guyon added that this number will be transferred to the next tourism director in the future.

Guyon presented to the board a Jeep magazine that highlights various off-road trails in the state of Wyoming and asked the board if they were interested in featuring Hot Springs County and Thermopolis in it. The board expressed great interest, and it led to a discussion about investigating adventure magazines that are tailored to fishing, biking, hiking and other related audiences. 

The next Travel & Tourism meeting will be on November 19 at 1 p.m. at the Hot Springs State Park Head Quarters.