Moving on up

Carbon County Visitors Council moves to new location in Rawlins, continues to champion tourism in county

Since 1987, Carbon County has had a two percent lodging tax in effect. An optional tax, it is voted on every four years and will be on the ballot November 8.

For 35 years, the tax has not increased, remaining at two percent. Sometimes, the status quo is good. Sometimes, growth is good.

While the lodging tax has not increased beyond two percent for more than three decades, the Carbon County Visitors Council (CCVC) has appeared to make it work to their advantage. In 2021, visitors to the county spent more than $200 million. As a matter of fact, they spent $227.6 million.

Due to the growth the visitors council has seen, they've been able to add to their staff and relocate to a larger space in Rawlins. In May, the CCVC hired Megan McComas as their sales and event marketing coordinator.

"Megan paid her own way to the Governor's Conference on Hospitality and Tourism. That's how we met her," said Leslie Jefferson, CCVC executive director. "She has been working hard on event promotions as well as content creation. Tina Hill from the Wyoming Frontier Prison actually utilizes her quite a bit. That's why she's here. To help the community in any way that she can with her graphic arts."

McComas is also working on bringing the Visitors Council onto more social media platforms. While the organization has videos on YouTube, the newest addition to the CCVC has brought Carbon County onto TikTok (@carbon_county_wy). At the moment, YouTube is better suited for long-form videos such as the newest one featuring Seminoe Reservoir and Miracle Mile. TikTok is designed for quick videos that can be either funny or informative.

With extra staff, the CCVC has also recently changde locations.

Last month, the Visitors Council changed offices; moving from deep in downtown Rawlins to 105 E. Cedar Street. Another change on the way is a new logo. Their location had been a little difficult to find in the past. The CCVC director said the Rawlins Post Office had been helpful in directing people to the visitors council office.

Jefferson believes the growth the CCVC has seen is proof the two percent lodging tax is working well for Carbon County. This past fiscal year, which ran from July 2021 to June 2022, the organization supported 44 events, 33 organizations and 11 communities. It also fulfilled over 50,000 visitor information requests.

 

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