2010 Annual Report - Visit Cheyenne
The Laramie County Travel Industry
The Laramie County hospitality industry experienced a year of growth in 2010. A slowly improving national economy, plus significant new economic activity in Laramie County, led to a strong year for the hospitality industry.
Local lodging occupancy was 63.8 % in 2010, up 15% over 2009 levels. Nationwide, the 2010 occupancy rate was 57.6%, up 5.7%. The average Cheyenne room rate for 2010 was $71.60, up 0.3% over 2009. (Source: Smith Travel Research)
Visitors spent $297.6 million in Laramie County in 2010, up 12 percent over 2009. This growth rate was double the statewide growth rate of 6 percent. Laramie County ranks second among Wyoming counties in travel spending, behind only Teton County. In addition, the Laramie County travel industry employed 3,120 local residents in 2010 and provided $8.3 million in state taxes and $5.5 million in local taxes. (Source: Wyoming Office of Tourism and Dean Runyan Associates)
Laramie County lodging tax collections totaled $1,237,007 in CY 10, up 18% over CY 09's collections. Laramie County voters renewed the local lodging tax with 78% of the vote in November. The Laramie County lodging tax is the primary funding source for Visit Cheyenne, the convention and visitors bureau of Laramie County.
Visit Cheyenne CY 2010 Activities
Mission of Visit Cheyenne
Visit Cheyenne provides leadership in developing, promoting, and protecting the Cheyenne area's travel industry. Visit Cheyenne strives to attract visitors to the Cheyenne area by capitalizing on Cheyenne's legendary history and image, thereby increasing visitor spending in the county.
Vision Statement
The Cheyenne area provides an authentic, friendly, and quality visitor experience for leisure and business travelers alike. The Cheyenne area is seen as a quality destination with its own unique attributes, not just as a convenient stop-over for visitors to other attractions in the region. The Cheyenne travel industry is busy year-round and is recognized as a major economic force in Laramie County.
Leisure Travel Marketing
Visit Cheyenne continued its strong regional advertising efforts with television and radio advertising in Wyoming and surrounding states. Visit Cheyenne also implemented a direct mail "stay in touch" program to previous inquirers within a 500 mile radius of Cheyenne.
Visit Cheyenne placed ads in the following publications, sometimes in partnership with area hotels or attractions:
AAA Tourbook AAA regional magazines Yellowstone Journal
American Cowboy True West Woodall's Directory
WY State Tourism Directory Denver Visitor's Guide History Channel
WY State Newspaper Coop Tri-State Traveler Parade magazine inserts
Casper Star Tribune WY Travel & Recreation Directory Natl. Geo Traveler
Visit Cheyenne continued its partnership with Yellowstone Journal in which a special Cheyenne/Yellowstone brochure is included with Yellowstone information mailed to 80,000 visitors planning a visit to Yellowstone National Park. Visit Cheyenne also sent more than 50,000 customized Cheyenne/Yellowstone e-mails to these travelers who desire more information about Wyoming cities.
Visit Cheyenne continued to update its website www.cheyenne.org and its related mobile site www.discovercheyenne.mobi.
In 2010, travelers booked $16,296 worth of roomnights on Visit Cheyenne's website.
Visit Cheyenne continued its billboard advertising on I-80 (2 signs) and I-25 (1 sign), and distributed 300,000 full-color Cheyenne area visitor guides to potential visitors.
The Visit Cheyenne Board of Directors awarded marketing grants to the ShootOut Cheyenne Filmmaking Contest, Cheyenne Regulators Hell on Wheels Shootout, Peppers on the Plaza, AARP Spelling Bee, the WY Plein Air Festival, WY Brewers Festival, Native American Heritage Celebration, Cheyenne International Film Festival, and the Cheyenne Celtic Festival.
Visit Cheyenne represented the Cheyenne area at four trade shows for the packaged travel or group tour market:
Tour Bus Shows International Shows
National Tour Association Rocky Mountain International Roundup
American Bus Association Go West Summit
In 2010, Visit Cheyenne surveyed more than 300 individuals who had requested Cheyenne travel information during the preceding year (23,770 inquiries). Overall, an estimated 28% of those requesting information actually visited Laramie County, spending an average of $904 per trip to Cheyenne.
Visit Cheyenne also conducted over 400 visitor intercept surveys throughout the entire year to create a new, comprehensive visitor profile that will be available in 2011.
Visit Cheyenne worked to attract American Eagle jet service to Cheyenne with its economic development partners Cheyenne LEADs, the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce, and Cheyenne Regional Airport. Visit Cheyenne also played a leadership role in marketing for Fly Cheyenne which aims to encourage passenger use of the Cheyenne Airport.
Performance Measures
CY 10 % Change
Traditional Inquiries 29,386 -24%
Web Visitors 318,576 (new tracking software negates comparison with CY 09)
Packaged Travel Contacts 255 -3%
Pckged Trvl Hotel Leads 8 298%
Conventions & Meetings
Visit Cheyenne represented the Cheyenne area at various meetings / conventions events often in partnership with area hotels.
ASAE Great Ideas conference MPI Supplier Showcase
SGMP Fall Conference PCMA Convene trade show
MeetingsQuest
Visit Cheyenne advertised Laramie County's convention options in the following publications:
WY Business Report Denver Mtg. Planning Guide Peaks and Plains
Smart Meetings No. Colorado Business Report PCMA Directory
Colorado Society of Assoc. Execs. Directory
Visit Cheyenne continued to uses its enhanced convention services offerings - online registration assistance using CVENT and complimentary welcome receptions for major meetings. These services were instrumental in two major convention successes - the WY Tourism Conference and WY Business Alliance's Fall Forum.
Visit Cheyenne assisted 146 conventions / meetings with brochures, coupons, planning, and registration help.
Visit Cheyenne is a member of several regional meeting organizations and represents the Cheyenne area at their monthly meetings and other functions.
Performance Measures
CY 10 % Change
Mtgs Assisted 46 29%
Conv./Mtg. Bids 30 3%
Conv. Roomnights 4,351 61%
Visitor Services
Visit Cheyenne operated its downtown visitor center and the Pine Bluffs Information Center year-round.
Visit Cheyenne continued to operate the Cheyenne Street Railway trolleys, providing regularly scheduled historic tours seven days a week from May through September, specialty tours at Halloween and Christmas, and chartered tours upon demand.
Visit Cheyenne's sale of Trolley Plus pass grew 75% to 1,165 passes sold. The Trolley Plus pass includes a trolley ride and admittance to several museums that charge entry fees. The goal of the discounted package is to convert trolley riders into "longer stay" visitors who visit more attractions than they may have planned.
Visit Cheyenne, the City of Cheyenne, and other partners completed its wayfinding plan to include a series of signs throughout the community to assist visitors. Unfortunately, the City of Cheyenne has not chosen to yet fund the plan.
Performance Measures
CY 10 Change
Depot Visitor Center Visitation 50,293 -7%
Pine Bluffs Visitor Center Visitation 91,550 4%
Trolley Riders 12,251 -16%
Trolley Plus Packages Sold 1,165 75%
Public Relations
Visit Cheyenne continued its relationship with a national Public Relations firm to proactively push Cheyenne stories into the media. The effort included a familiarization tour of journalists in July, several media pushes of stories, and some significant coverage in the Dallas Morning News, Colorado Springs Gazette, Denver Post, Forbes.com, Wall Street Journal's website, Bloomberg.com, and numerous online travel blogs. A major success was a five minute interview with Cheyenne Mayor Kaysen on Fox Business News discussing economic development in Cheyenne. In addition, Visit Cheyenne provided PR assistance to the Wyoming Business Alliance Fall Forum which helped make the event a huge success.
Visit Cheyenne continued its periodic Lodging After Hours events for informal networking among lodging industry workers and performed its annual lodging wage surveys again for area hoteliers.
Visit Cheyenne serves on the numerous boards of directors including the Wyoming Travel Industry Coalition, Cheyenne LEADs, and the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce.
Visit Cheyenne developed an innovative rodeo flash game that is available on 400+ gaming websites around the world, on Facebook, and on Facebook. The game has been played by more than one million players.
Visit Cheyenne greatly expanded it social media efforts through Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Flickr.
Performance Measures
CY 10 Change
Local Media Contacts 60 -5%
National/Intl. Media Contacts 75 -21%
VISIT CHEYENNE FINANCIALS
VISIT CHEYENNE's financials for Fiscal Year 2010 (July 2009 - June 2010) showed the following year-end totals.
Revenues
Lodging Tax $1,122,712
Other Revenues $ 18,041
TOTAL $1,140,753
Expenditures
Marketing $ 477,513
Conventions and Meetings $ 162,316
Packaged Travel $ 61,798
Public Relations $ 62,446
Visitor Services $ 190,972
Convention Services $ 82,018
Administration $ 180,822
TOTAL $ 1,217,885
VISIT CHEYENNE Board Members in Fiscal and Calendar Years 2010
Jim Rauzi, Poor Richard's Restaurant Cheyenne appointee
Debbie Disney Caldwell, Plains Hotel Cheyenne appointee
Bob Nelson, Nelson Museum of the West Laramie County appointee
Sonja Carlson-Fornstrom, PB Recreation Dept. Pine Bluffs appointee
Jim Johnson, Johnson Masonry, Frontier Days Cheyenne appointee
Steve Farkas, Corral West, Univ. of WY Laramie County appointee
Judy Johnstone Burns appointee
Bob Harmon, Holiday Inn Laramie County appointee
Rick Keslar, WY Dept. of Transp., Frontier Days City of Cheyenne appointee
Looking for culture, recreation, adventure, or relaxation, Cheyenne offers something for everyone!
Medicine Bow National Forest
Just west of Cheyenne, the Medicine Bow National Forest offers a variety of recreational opportuniti...More
