An air of optimism for tourism

The 2022 Governor's Tourism and Hospitality Conference was held from February 28 through March 1 at Little America in Cheyenne. The annual conference has been virtual for the past two years and both attendees and speakers were clearly glad to be meeting in person.

It was a constant theme heard throughout the conference.

"This was a gathering of the movers and shakers in the Wyoming tourism industry," Governor Mark Gordon said. "Wyoming really is a lost treasure and it is so great to see the outpouring of enthusiasm evidenced throughout the conference. I missed it being gone in 2020."

Gordon said the state is  bouncing back given what it faced last year with pandemic constraints affecting much of the industry.

"Last year, when we had Frontier Days, it was so great to see the people come back and know what Wyoming is capable of," Gordon said. "That is what makes Wyoming so special to not only us, but to so many who visit from all over."

The event was educational to many who attended.

"It was a lot  of fun," Dana Davis, Saratoga Museum director said. "I have made a lot of interesting contacts. I have heard a lot of great suggestions and been exposed to a lot of ideas. It is always great to get different viewpoints and I think everyone walks away with something they didn't know before."

Davis attended because she beleived museums are a large component to tourism in a community which have one.

"Museums are a part of tourism because there are people who will travel and go to museums wherever they are. We provide entertainment when we have events for the community as well," Davis said. "And if weather makes being outdoors less desirable, a museum is often the go-to with visitors."

"This has been wonderful to see all the people get together again," Darren Rudloff from Rudloff Solutions said. "It feels so good to see so many of the tourism industry people back together again. It was like a celebration more so than usual just because of what we went through last year."

Rudloff said this year's conference not only featured the Yellowstone celebrating 150 years as a national park and the trends occurring as the state recovers from the Covid crisis, but also the attendance of many legislators.

"Having the legislators here after having the state wide lodging tax coming into effect, it really was a positive conference," Rudloff said. "I think everyone was pleasantly surprised how well Wyoming did in the pandemic, but it makes sense being one the wide open states that has outdoor opportunities which was to our benefit during those tough times and we pulled together, welcomed all those amazing guests, built up the capacity and now we have these facilities and now we are ready to do bigger things in the future."

Rudloff laughs about a special honor afforded to him because of the canceled get together last year.

"I am the only Big Wyo to have a two year tenure," Rudloff jokes. "It gives me a special place in a trivia game."

Since 1977 The Wyoming Lodging and Restaurant Association (WLRA) has proudly awarded The Big Wyo Award to a private sector individual/s who have done an outstanding job promoting and improving the tourism industry for the State of Wyoming. This exceptional award is presented at the Salute to the Industry Gala which follows the annual conference.

Past Carbon County winners have been Dave Rader in 2007, C.J. Box in 2008 and Doug and Kathleen Campbell in 2018. 

This year's winner was Renee Penton-Jones, a Casper native who began her hospitality career in 1992. She has served as the Chairwoman of the Visit Casper Board and has served on the Wyoming Tourism Board and is the current WLRA President. 

Benton-Jones was completely surprised at being selected and had thought the winner was someone else.

"There are so many people who work hard for this industry and it may sound like a speech everyone says who wins an award, but this really is an honor and I am touched," Penton-Jones said. "I really had no idea. My husband was in on it and the Governor kept it a secret. So I really wasn't prepared, and I didn't know what to say other than thank you."

Carbon County Visitor Council (CCVC) also had representatives attend. CCVC Chairman Danny Burau felt this conference was the most beneficial he has attended.

"There has been so much information that has been shared that is directly related to industry that I feel we can put into practice right away," Burau said. "It is the first time I have felt this way repeatedly because I couldn't get to all the seminars, I was missing out. This was such a forward looking conference and I feel there were so many tools presented that will help us in Carbon County and the State."

Burau said the tourism industry presents challenges.

"Residents of the state need to know the value tourism brings in. Tourists are a group of people that come here, spend their money, leave tax dollars behind when they leave and it helps relieve the tax burden on residents," Burau said. "I get that there is the inconvenience when more people are on the river but the benefits from the money being spent is overall positive. Hotels and restaurants depend on tourism and jobs are created that can be career paths for the younger generation. If we can figure out ways to improve residents' quality of life while having these people spend their money, we in the industry should do our best to do so. We as advocates of this industry need to help the residents understand how we can benefit from the visitor economy and at the same time, listen to residents' concerns. It is the number two industry in the state and we need it and yet be aware of our residents' concerns."

"This was a great conference and the best part was all being together," Leslie Jefferson, CCVC Director, said. "It really makes a difference for so many reasons."

Diane Shober, Wyoming Office of Tourism Executive Director, said the conference is an important event because it is a time when the industry gets to look back at the year and what it brought and a time to look towards the future.

"This has been a really exciting  and pivotal time where we can talk and network on how we can get through the economy together," Shober said. "On Sunday night, the energy in the room was fabulous. It was like coming home after being gone for some time."

Shober, who has been the executive director since 2003, said this year felt a bit different.

"I have been coming to this event for a long time," Shober said. "I love what my team puts forth all year long and they are like a family, but the bigger team is the industry across the state and it really is special to be back together again."

Shober feels good about the summer season to come for the industry, but is aware circumstances can change quickly.

"Where we go from 2022 has many positive indicators for the industry," Shober said. 

"We are aware of what is happening in the world that could change the economics, but we as an industry have learned to be elastic and flexible. We have seen high gas prices before but it didn't really affect Wyoming as a destination. So right now we are just looking forward and I am really positive about 2022."

MaCall Burau, general manager and co-owner of Firewater went to the conference for the first time.

"As an owner of a business in a heavily dependent tourist town, I was curious to see what the tourism community that Danny (her husband) has been involved in for a long time," McCall said. "The take home message I got was that you need to find what is valuable and authentic to your town and find a way to preserve that or emphasize it. This will naturally attract tourism. Visitors are looking for an experience that is different from their own. They don't want it to be artificial or manufactured."

McCall said she felt her husband was taking in information that applied to the state and county scale, where she was taking the information on how it applied to the community she lived in.

"I even scaled it down to how it affected Firewater and Saratoga," McCall said. "After all, we as residents are the ambassadors to visitors. I think I went to the conference more focused on the tourists and came back more focused on what tourism can do for locals with shared values with visitors."

McCall said the conference was enlightening for her in realizing how important the shared values are between residents and visitors. 

"We need to make sure the local community is proud of what they offer and want to share it," McCall said.  "I came back from this conference not on what we need to change, but more the spirit of let's see what is here and celebrate it with those who visit us."