A new executive director is taking the reins at the Wyoming Office of Tourism. Domenic Bravo started steering the ship earlier this month, when long-time director Diane Shober stepped down after leading the office for over two decades.
Tourism is the second-largest economic driver in Wyoming, with the industry bringing 8.7 million travelers and nearly $5 billion of visitor spending to the state in 2024, according to the office. Visitor spending has more than doubled over the last 20 years and the amount of taxes generated has increased eightfold, according to a Wyoming Office of Tourism presentation at a recent interim legislative committee meeting.
For Bravo, a big goal of the office is to bring people to the state and then help local economies connect with those visitors.
“We’re kind of the big hug around the state to try to make sure we can get folks in and help our partners have the tools to then also do their marketing,” he said.
Prior to stepping into his new role, Bravo served as the the CEO of Visit Cheyenne, Laramie County’s Tourism Promotion Joint Powers Board, starting in 2020. He was also a professor at the University of Wyoming in the Outdoor Recreation and Tourism Management program. Before that, he spent 11 years as administrator of the Wyoming State Parks and Outdoor Recreation Office Division.
According to Bravo, hospitality and outdoor recreation go hand-in-hand, especially in Wyoming.
“ Those concepts are married together,” he said. “We really wouldn't have a lot of the tourism that we have if it wasn't for the beautiful outdoor recreation and natural assets that we have to showcase to the world.”
Bravo pointed to the rise of technology as the biggest change in the world of tourism in the last few decades, with the increase in digital marketing making it possible to reach potential visitors in new and different ways. He added that’s also created more ways to connect tourists and Wyomingites alike to things like event calendars and community information.
“ Going to a visitor bureau website wasn’t really how I traveled, but now the way things interconnect and you do site optimization, a lot of things you find on social media … push you into a website,” he said. “Then you're like, ‘Hey, this is great. The event calendar's here, and this is where I find all the information, even as a local.’”
When it comes to statewide tourism trends, Bravo shared that international tourism has dropped in the last year, but domestic tourism is on the rise, with a higher than usual performance with winter marketing. And overnight stays have jumped from an average of two to five nights, to three to six nights.
“ It may not seem like increasing it by one night is big, but in this industry, those incremental moves for us is pretty substantial,” said Bravo.
Tourism currently makes up about 4.5% of the state’s GDP, a number Bravo hopes will only increase over the years with more support for young entrepreneurs through partnerships with the University of Wyoming and community colleges around the state.
More visitors to the state brings more opportunities for education, especially when it comes to traveling in outdoor spaces and recreating responsibly around wildlife like bison and grizzly bears. Bravo said the Office of Tourism has a role to play in figuring out where people are getting their information from and sharing best-practices when visitors come to Wyoming, in collaboration with partners like the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service or Wyoming State Parks.
“We don't want to be off message or stepping on each other's toes. We want to make sure we're pulling in the same direction,” he said. “It's a lot of coordinated effort.”
When it comes to his vision for tourism going forward, Bravo said his long-term goal is “smart and sustainable” growth, while using targeted marketing strategies to spread out visitation and protect destinations that are getting a bit crowded, like Jackson.
“ I have some interesting concepts to try to move people around,” he said. “It doesn't mean that any business would be impacted by losing out on great business, but more so being able to disperse people in a way that's unique, almost using some of our natural resource concepts that you do to protect trails.”
Bravo emphasized that he’s grateful to get to build on such a strong foundation and said he’s looking forward to talking with staff, board members, community leaders and stakeholders to help guide the office’s next chapter.
Gov. Mark Gordon thanked retiring director Shober and welcomed incoming director Bravo in a release shared by the Wyoming Office of Tourism on Nov. 17.
“Diane Shober’s steady leadership and unwavering commitment to showcasing the beauty, spirit, and hospitality of Wyoming have been instrumental in building our state’s reputation as a world-class destination,” he wrote. “Under her guidance, Wyoming's tourism industry has grown stronger and more deeply connected to the communities that make our state special.”
“Tourism is one of Wyoming’s signature industries, vital to both our economy and our identity,” Gordon continued. “I’m confident that Domenic [Bravo] will continue this tradition of excellence and innovation, keeping Wyoming’s wide-open spaces, communities, and heritage at the heart of our tourism message.”
