Tourism challenges and rewards

Carbon County residents continue to fund tourism

On November 6, the voters of Carbon County renewed the lodging tax in a strong manner. The tax was approved by 79 percent of the residents who voted.

Keeping the tax will help make sure the Carbon County Visitors Council (CCVC) can continue to fund grants for activities for the different communities throughout Carbon County. The events that the CCVC sponsor promote visitors spending the night in the county so the funds can be replenished. However, the CCVC and Wyoming Office of Tourism (WOT) realize getting visitors to come into the state also means there is the benefit of tourists purchasing gas, buying food from restaurants and grocery stores. Tourists spend money at retail shops and provide a living for fishing and hunting guides plus others who are involved in the outdoor recreation industry.

Tourism is the number two industry in the state and its importance cannot be understated. The industry, like many others in the United States, took a serious hit during the COVID pandemic and the effects are still being felt by many. Some businesses have had to change their model to survive.

Mother nature can also have a hand in the success of a tourism season as demonstrated in the early summer when Yellowstone National Park was closed for flooding. Wyoming still had people coming to the state and discovering other places besides Yellowstone and Teton National Parks. Carbon County was one of the beneficiaries with all of the outdoor settings and scenery to choose from.

The county has collected around $40,000 more in lodging tax this year as compared to last year at this time. Even with all the challenges the industry is finding with the Covid pandemic fallout, Wyoming seems to be on a lot of visitor's radar, Carbon County too.

At the Wyoming Hospitality and Tourism Fall Summit held October 19 to 20 in Casper, the Wyoming Hospitality and Travel Coalition (WHTC) indicated the State was doing well.

The conference was attended by board members and directors of the CCVC. There were 11 seminars for the attendees dealing with various topics such as working with online travel companies to help lodging companies deal with collecting and remitting taxes. Destination optimization, destination development, media training, engaging the legislature and understanding what the statewide lodging tax can be used for were more topics that were covered.

One seminar, many attendees were interested in, was hiring today's workforce. Restaurants and hotels are having serious staffing issues and it is hurting the industry. Chris Brown, Executive Director at The Wyoming Lodging And Restaurant Association (WLRA) felt there was good advice given on the subject.

"Every town in Wyoming has been struggling with labor significantly," Brown said. "This issue was a challenge before COVID and now we have a climate that is even harder to find staff."

Employers are finding out that staff don't necessarily work for the business. The business needs to work for the business. It has been discovered an employee is less worried about money and benefits as they are about quality of life. Workers taking jobs want to be assured they will have time to enjoy the place they live. If hours do not suit being able to enjoy their life, most workers have no desire to work for the business.

The shortage is being felt the way it is throughout the state, including Carbon County, employers have to adjust if they want to keep workers.

"Getting labor is as tough as I have ever seen it. I have been in the industry, working in it and representing it for 30 years," Brown said. "From my perspective, the biggest yield in the discussion at this summit is what it takes to hire and maintain a worker."

Brown said the technology is very different from when he started. "Back in the day when I ran a restaurant, we would get an application and then call them over the next couple of days. We would set up an interview over the next week and then set up a second interview a week after. The fact that people hung in that long in retrospect, actually it blows my mind."

Brown said those days are gone. "Now everything is online and it is immediate. An application is filled out and a manager sees it that same day. The manager responds and lets the applicant choose when they want to come in for an interview. Technology that facilitates ease of application and hiring, puts the prospective employee in the driver's seat."

Another point made by Brown was the monetary value of a job is taking a back seat in an employee's decision to take a job.

"Certainly people want to make a good wage," Brown said. "But what was talked about and discussed was how employees want to buy into a culture that suits them. If they don't buy into what the business is doing or how they are treated, they are gone. An employee has to believe in the brand and culture they are working. It doesn't solve the problem exactly, but it gives employers an outline of what the new generation of worker is wanting in their job."

Brown said every county and town all types of businesses are facing different challenges which are unique to their area concerning getting labor.

"Some places it is the cost of finding a place to live," Brown said. "It might be the actual labor pool. A town like Saratoga is going to have a stronger challenge than a town like Laramie. This conference was about listening to the challenges and helping each other overcome them."

Brown felt the Fall Summit was well attended. He thanked Renee Patton Jones, for making the conference a success at the Ramkota Hotel in Casper.

"They went beyond to make this event a success," Brown said. "The WOT gave great information on tools to be used for growing the visitor economy. It was important the conference also focused on operational issues like the discussions on labor. This is all relevant. This conference really makes sure it is able to help all businesses in the industry, no matter what size they are."

Brown is happy with the direction the WOT is going.

"Tourism is a competitive industry and we are surrounded by states like Montana, Idaho, South Dakota, Colorado and Utah–all fighting after that visitor to stay and spend money in their state," said Brown.

Brown also said it was excellent that the WOT does not get its budget from the general fund but rather a dedicated funding source in the form of a state lodging tax  that was introduced two years ago.

"Now we are significantly more competitive with surrounding states and we are poised to explode as an industry and I could not be more proud," Brown said. "I am really excited to see what is going to happen in the coming three to five years."

Diane Shober, the director WOT said although there are serious challenges always popping up, she is optimistic with how tourism is going in the state of Wyoming.

"We fared better than a lot of places during COVID, but that was partly because of the messaging nationally," Shober said. "go outside, have plenty of space around you, get away from crowds. That is our wheelhouse. We have always promoted ourselves as the "Great Outdoors", "Land of Wide Open Spaces"  and "Big Blue Skies" and we didn't have to reinvent ourselves.."

Shober said Wyoming is still face a little slowing down and she said it was because consumers have options again.

"Tourism choices are back to pre-COVID levels," Shober said. "Americans can now go to Europe again. If they want to go to a city where there are shows. The places that were off limits for the past two years are now available. That speaks volumes to me. We can't take demand for granted."

Shober said if the Wyoming tourism industry was not dynamic about what the state offers a visitor, surrounding states would outpace the Cowboy State.

"It is a competitive industry," Shober said. "The tax revenue we will be getting in 2023 will take time to build up."

WOT is now looking to promote the Wyoming brand to the national level.

"We have not really had a strong national presence and that is really where you can start to churn on being more focused and targeted," Shober said. "You are fishing in a much bigger pond. Having the funds to be competitive on the national level allows us to cast a much wider net and longer periods of campaigns." 

Governor Mark Gordon believes in how beneficial tourism is to the state. "I believe Wyoming is on the cusp of having great things happen with the industry," Gordon said. "When talking about tourism, we have the opportunity to put a lot of things together. Outdoor recreation, straight up hospitality and when you talk about getting a sense of the Old West, Wyoming is the place."

In truth, Governor Gordon is talking about Carbon County too.

 

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