CASPER — The tourism industry says it is emerging from economic darkness, and Natrona County wants some of its travelers to come here — and spend some money while they’re at it.
“We’re budgeting flat for this year, and hoping for everybody to be right,” said Aaron McCreight, executive director of the Natrona County Travel and Tourism Council.
The council — a joint-powers board composed of representatives from the city of Casper, Natrona County, Bar Nunn, Edgerton, Evansville and Midwest — has endured a free-falling economy in the past two years that saw revenues from patrons of local hotels drop 20 percent.
Other counties saw declines ranging from 5 percent to 30 percent, McCreight said. “I’ve heard many stories worse than ours.”
Even so, the council on Tuesday approved a budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year that reflects the tough times in local tourism.
The new budget anticipates $965,000 in revenues from the 3 percent lodging tax levied on hotel stays. These revenues — administered by the council’s marketing arm called the Casper Area Convention & Visitors Bureau — promote central Wyoming through brochures, advertisements, the Internet and other media. Natrona County voters will decide whether to renew the tax in the Nov. 2 general election.
Those anticipated revenues are nearly 15 percent less than the $1.1 million budgeted for the 2009-10 fiscal year.
The new budget reduces the grants and sponsorships it will provide, from an anticipated $226,000 for the last fiscal year and last year’s actual awards of $126,000.
The council also trimmed the amounts it plans to spend on advertising, the “adventure guides,” operations and trade shows.
However, it approved an increase in staff salaries and benefits to $315,000 compared to $291,000 budgeted for the current year and actual spending of $272,000. The increase reflects higher benefits costs and a cost-of-living adjustment in salaries.
McCreight said he hopes the lodging tax revenues exceed the budget’s expectations.
“The travel and tourism industry feels we’ve hit bottom,” McCreight said. “We feel we’re on our way up.”
The U.S. Travel Association has projected the industry will see the same kinds of revenues in the first three months of 2011 as it did in the record year of 2008, McCreight said.
He cited several trends in Wyoming to underscore that optimism:
• Unemployment is inching downward.
• The economy has seen measurable job growth.
• People are confident they will have jobs.
• Yellowstone National Park broke another attendance record in June.
• A USA Today/AAA survey revealed that 15 percent more families plan to take vacations this year compared to 2009.
Finally, McCreight is seeing indications of a turnaround in the minerals industries with oil and gas companies reserving blocks of hotel rooms for their workers.
“As they go, so goes the state, which is no secret,” he said.
Contact Tom Morton at tom.morton@trib.com or 307-266-0592.
