Wyoming Office of Tourism

2020 was a hard year for tourism. Nationally, the industry contracted by 45 percent. While Wyoming fared much better and shrunk only by 25 percent, it was still a big impact.

The U.S. Travel Association's National Travel and Tourism week is usually a time to highlight the tourism industry in the state but the week will be celebrated a little differently this year.

A legislative committee has approved an attempt to get more money to the Wyoming Department of Tourism to promote the state and bring in more state revenue.

The Wyoming Office of Tourism’s 2016 campaign “That’s WY” is focused on answering why people should visit Wyoming.

One of the biggest changes the campaign has introduced is a new website design and URL at travelwyoming.com. The new site is image based with a so-called responsive design, which means the site looks the same whether viewed on a cell phone or desktop computer.

Diane Shober, executive director of the Wyoming Office of Tourism, says, in addition to the new site, the office is also expanding its reach in radio and television.

The Wyoming Office of Tourism is trying out a new strategy to bring visitors to the cowboy state in 2016. In addition to spot marketing in places like Colorado, Chicago, and Portland the office is launching a nationwide marketing campaign that will feature TV and digital advertisements.

Diane Shober, the executive director at the state’s office of tourism, says the national marketing campaign will launch around the end of February, but it won’t be the only way the office is trying to get the word out about visiting Wyoming.

Wyoming’s landscape stars in a new film coming this Thanksgiving. So, the UW Geological Museum and the Wyoming Office of Tourism have teamed up with Disney Pixar to promote the movie.

According to the Wyoming Office of Tourism, the state is poised for another record-breaking summer tourism season. 

10.1 million visitors came to Wyoming in 2014, and this year the state could see even more. Diane Shober, the Executive Director of the tourism office, says that it is thanks to a combination of strong advance booking numbers for national parks, an ongoing marketing campaign, and low gas prices.

In coming years, visitors to Wyoming’s Wind River Indian Reservation will see new historical perspectives on roadside signs and markers. That’s the proposed outcome of the new Wind River Interpretive Plan. It's believed to be the first such collaboration between tribes and state government on a reservation-wide interpretive plan.