Travel & Tourism board meets

At the March 15 Hot Springs County Travel & Tourism meeting Treasurer Audra Dominguez gave the financial report and said their January lodging tax revenue was $9,697.36 which was only 1% lower than the previous year. The total lodging tax revenue so far for the fiscal year 2022/2023 is $171,930.93. December 2022’s lodge tax revenue was $10,392.43. The board voted and passed the approval of the financial report. In December, the Travel & Tourism board was not in compliance with the State of Wyoming and Hot Springs County Treasurer Julie Mortimore did not release their lodging tax revenue until the board returned to being compliant, which they did on December 27. They were out of compliance for only one week, and at the time, were waiting for a letter stating they were in compliance. Jackie Dorothy gave the director’s report and said, “The Google Audit has been submitted. I was able to find 192 businesses to include. This list will also be helpful as we continue with our marketing of the area.” 

Dorothy continued, “Several unprecedented factors have contributed to a downward turn of our revenue dollars. A combination of road closures, extremely cold weather and storms are believed to be responsible. It was not uncommon in past years to see fishermen all year round on the river, but that was not the case this year. However, our total revenue remains above average and we have five months to go.” 

“Our Summer magazine is slated to be released by early May. Most advertisers have opted to return! The Billings Airport, Cody Airport, and visitor centers are all requesting more magazines, so we will have a great distribution around the state and into the bordering states.”

Dorothy described their social media efforts and said, “Facebook is going strong. Our best post (of the sun dogs) reached nearly 1,000 organic likes and over 50K impressions. In the past 24 days, as of March 10, we have reached over 83,000 people, had over 6,000 engagements, and 223 new followers, all organic since our winter campaign has ended. We have 16,657 followers. 37% of our followers are men and 63% are women, with the majority between 35 and 54 years of age. Important to know because this is our target market.” 

Dorothy also met with the CWC Foundation Board on March 9. They were given a presentation on ‘eatwyoming.com,’ an initiative to promote eating locally produced foods and potential grants that are coming available. 

In old business, Dorothy reported they had a new debit card secured for the patents, which enabled their account with Go Daddy to be resolved. 

In new business, Dorothy reported that WYDOT has given the board “a green light” for their digital billboard project. If the location they choose has an existing sign, they can take that sign down and replace it with the new digital billboard. That fee is $15 per year. However, if they put the digital billboard in a new location, the fee will be $100 per year. Dorothy plans to speak with the State Park about the next steps. Dorothy also said they secured $80,000 from the Destination Development Fund to go toward paying for the digital billboard. The tourism board has not finalized the location of the digital sign.

The tourism board held a discussion about their recent Facebook campaign and how they terminated a third-party service for making posts for their Facebook page. Dorothy said, “they went rogue” and were making posts that did not show accurate photos of Hot Springs County and were not replying to comments on the posts. Those inaccurate posts are now deleted. With the termination of his service, the board made a motion and passed the approval to temporarily hire Dorothy’s Legends Rock Media to handle their social media posts for the short term. They plan on hiring someone else as soon as possible, as this job is time-consuming. They hope to find someone local to do the job. The board voted and passed to pay Legend Rock Media $450 per month for a maximum of six months.

The board scheduled its annual budget meeting for May 17. The board must also address their contract with the Chamber of Commerce for the coming year in time for the Chamber’s meeting on April 13.