Travel and Tourism board receives updates on marketing campaigns

At the March 17 Travel and Tourism board meeting, Treasurer Matt Hughes gave the financial report. He updated their spreadsheet to reflect $38.3K in the board-approved budget plus up from carryover. The remaining carry-over balance is $24.2K. Hughes also reconciled the spreadsheet with their accountant data and made them agree with each other down to the penny. He also completed the U.S. Census 2021 Government Units Survey they needed to fill out.

For the month of February, the lodging tax income was $7,396.77 plus $7.69 in interest. In the eight months span ending February, their lodging tax income was $125,013.07. Historically, for the month of February, they measured down 7% from an average of $7,982.08. They are eight months out of 12 for the fiscal year and have taken in 71% of their planned $175,000. They have $134K left to spend in the remaining four months to avoid adding to carry over. 

Board Director Jackie Dorothy gave her report and said she has been posting live on Facebook videos and they have been pleasantly surprised by the number of views.

They continue to distribute magazines and dropped some off at the Marina. Chairman Carl Leyba said that the board should get some drone footage of the marina when they have a concert or event. Dorothy added that they will continue to feature Boysen Reservoir as part of the marketing for Hot Springs County since it is so close and not really appearing in Fremont County tourism marketing.

Dorothy informed the board that she will meet with the Wind River Visitors Council new Marketing Coordinator. The strategic plan presented by Young Strategist suggested that they partner up with their neighbors. They have also been working to redirect Jackson flights in this direction with Central Wyoming Airport, in the possibility of the Jackson airport closing. There have been rumors the closure is for three months happening this year. However, those rumors are not true. The closure will not be this year, it will be in the spring of 2022, April 11 - June 27. More information on that capital project can be found at http://www.jacksonholeairport.com.

Dorothy recently met with Airport Manager Kyle Butterfield about a partnership and advertising in the Central Wyoming Airport earlier this month, and he is enthusiastic about the possibilities. They are a distribution point at the airport.

Dorothy also has been working with 360 Truly on their marketing plans regarding the Hot Springs County Google listing.

Dorothy concluded her report by saying they have new future videos currently in the works and are finalizing the scripts and voiceovers. They are using the additional footage that was shot from last year’s video shoots to produce this new content.

In new business, Chairman Carl Leyba and the board welcomed officially their new board member, Audra Dominguez. She was recently appointed by the Town Council and has replaced Bob Spain’s old seat. 

Kevin Skates of Hot Springs State Park returned to the Travel and Tourism board meeting after doing some homework on testing if the hot spring’s mineral water can kill the COVID virus. He recently spoke with the owners and managers of the Star Plunge and Hellie’s TeePee pools. Both pools reported that they have been very busy with many customers since January and expect to see continual high attendance. Skates said, “They are very busy and packed every weekend”.

He added that the pools don’t think the testing of the COVID virus would benefit them and they recommend the board not spend additional money. The pools also recommended that if the tourism board does spend money to please use it to let people know the pools are open. Skate added that the state park received an abundance of multiple calls per day where tourists call in to check and see if the pools. This demand resulted in Skates making a five-minute outgoing message to the public explaining to callers that pools and state park are open and also providing detailed information. 

Chairman Leyba addressed their plans on creating a river map for fishermen in Hot Springs County. He said that he recently spoke with Chamber of Commerce Director Meri Ann Rush and that she has been working on a similar map for years.

Leyba suggested to the board that they take a step back and not push the issue. Leyba and Dorothy presented a handwritten map that guides hand to visiting tourists of luxury fisherman. One board member said that the map was crude and was unhappy that this is what they present to tourists. Visiting guest Jeb Schenck suggested that they use mapping data from USGS to help the tourists. 

Jeb Schenck of Schenck Photography presented some new “story videos’’ with three different ideas. One will be for floating the river and fishing, following a family group from the Wedding of the Waters all the way to the terraces. The second idea is with Legend Rock and retired archaeologist Larry Loendorf and learning about its background. The third idea is with the state park, trails, boardwalks, the swinging bridge and the buffalo pasture. Tourists would be on these paths and crossover into each other. Also, Schenck said if the weather conditions are right they will shoot footage of Wade Lippincott paragliding off of Monument Hill and flying over the terraces and park. The board voted to approve $9,000 to pay Schenck Photography for these new productions.

Dorothy said they are exploring the possibility of placing a digital sign to inform the public of community events. The board originally contacted the Dinosaur Center to use their lot at the stoplight, but they declined. The new location in the works is the sign at the fairgrounds next to the stone border across the street from the high school and auditorium.