Expenditures - Fiscal Year 2013

Visit Cheyenne is the official tourism promotion organization for Laramie County. It is governed by the Laramie County Tourism Joint Powers Board which includes members appointed by Laramie County (3), the City of Cheyenne (3), Pine Bluffs (1), Burns (1), and Albin (1).

The Laramie County lodging tax is the primary funding source for Visit Cheyenne. The tax is paid by visitors who stay in Laramie County lodging establishments, not Laramie County residents. Laramie County voters f irst approved the tax in 1987 and have renewed it every time it has been up for a vote since.

Visit Cheyenne promotes and develops the Cheyenne area through paid advertising, visitor guides and websites, social media, public relations, convention and bus tour solicitation, trolley operation, and the operation of two visitor centers.

MissionVisit 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.

AdAdmiminin ststraratitionon(1(10%0%)) LeL isisururee

MaM rketingg(4(46%6%))

Conventitionn Salles/Services(1(17%))

Grouo p Tours(5%)

PuPublblicicReRelaatit ononss

(6( %)

ViVisisitotorrSeServrviciceses

(1(16%6%))

ViVisisit t ChCheyeyenenneneAAududititeded FFininanancicialals s –– FiFiscscalal YYeaear r 2020

(J(Jululy y 20201212 -- JJununee 20201313))

WIWITHTHOUOUT T REREGIGISTSTRARATITIONONSS

REVENUES

LoL dging g Tax $1$1,339393,820

Other ReR vevenuues* $2$2,6620

TOTOTATAL L $1,3,39696,4, 40

EXPENDITURES

LeLeisisure e MaMarkrketet ningg $6$6282 ,778080

CoConvene tionSaSalees/s/SeS rvicess*

$2$2323 ,990303

GrG ouo p Tours $7$74,4,858566

PuPublblicic RRelelationsn $8$86,6,767644

ViVisisitotor r Services $221919,1,13838

AdAdmimininiststraratit on $1$13333,5,56666

TOTOTATALL $1$1,3,37676,0,00707*Do*Doeses notnot ininclucludede regregististratrationion fefees es VisVisit it CheCheyenyennene

accacceptepts as and nd disdisperpersesses fofor lr locaocal cl convonvententionions.s.

CHEYENNE STREET RAILWAY TROLLEY

ReR venues $9$94,535333

Expee dndituress $55,5155

Auditor: Auer Woodley & Osttlund CPA’s LLC.

President & CEODarren Rudloff

Director of Operations Jill Pope

Director of Convention SalesJim Walter

Convention Services & Sales Manager

Lisa Maney

Digital Marketing CoordinatorLisa Kindel

Customer Service SpecialistLaura Levi

FULL TIME STAFF

VISIT CHEYENNE OVERVIEW

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If the travel industry were a single business, it would rank as the

county’s third largest employer behind F.E. Warren Air Force Base

and the State of Wyoming.

Cheyenne’s 2013 lodging occupancy rate of 63.8% means that

approximately 1,500 hotel rooms are booked every single night

of the year.

In 2013, Cheyenne Frontier Days™ received the Professional

Rodeo Cowboy Association’s “Large Outdoor Rodeo of the Year”

award for the 10th straight year.

Visitors pay Laramie County and Wyoming taxes that support local schools, roads and other services. Visitors pay 9.1% of the sales tax

collected in Laramie County.

Laramie County has the 2nd highest level of traveler spending among

all Wyoming counties, behind only Teton County.

Without the tax contribution of tourists, each Laramie County

household would pay an additional $380 in taxes to maintain existing

government services.

Visitors to Cheyenne Frontier Days™ spend approximately $25 million in

Laramie County each year.

More than three-quarters (78%) of Frontier Days attendees travel from outside of Laramie County

to attend.

The use of mobile devices to access www.cheyenne.org is growing

10 times faster than access through desktop computers.

DID YOU KNOW?

2013 2012 2011 2010 2009

OcOccuupapancncy y RaRatete 6363.8.8%% 6262.3.3%% 6565.3.3%% 6363.8.8%% 5555.2.2%%

AvAvereragage e RoRoomom RRatatee $8$81.1.2626 $7$77.7 7979 $7$75.5.6363 $7$71.1.9797 $7$71.1.4040

SouSourcerce: S: Smitmith Th Travravele ResResearearchh

0%0%

20%20%

40%40%

60%60%

80%80%

100100%%

63

71

83 83 81

73 72

51

4348449 48

MARMAR APRAPR MAYMAY JUNJU JULJU AUGAUG SEP OCTO NOVNOV DECDECFEBFEBJANJAN

Cheyenne Lodging Occupancy Rates, 2013

MILM LIOL N $$

RetailSales

($48.7)

EatEatinging/Dr/Drinkinkingng($7($74.1))AccAc ommmodaodatiotionsns

($338.99)

TraTr nsportationo($137.3 7)

EntE ertaini ment($32.8)

Laramie County Travel Spending by Business Sector, 2012

Employment Generated by Tourism in Laramie County

JOBS

0 500 10000 1500 20020 0 2502500 3003000 35000

222202012

222202010

222202009

3,,01000

222202011 3,14000

3,13000

2,89000

Laramie County Lodging Tax Collections

DOD LLARS

0 5005 ,00,0000 1,01 000,00,000000 1,5, 00,000000

$1,393,820

$1,402,518

$1,179,986

FFY 2013

$1,357,753FFY 2012

FFY 2011

FFY 2010

Travel Spending in Laramie County

MIMILLLLIOI N $

00 5050 1000 15015 200 250 300 350

$333.4 milliononn

$299.6 milliononn

$264.3 milliononn

222202012

$327.5 millionnn222202011

222202010

222202009

Source: Strategic Marketing & Research, Inc.Sources: Smith Travel Research; Dean Runyan

Associates; Cheyenne Frontier Days™

Connvention/nMeeMeetintings/gs/GroG ups

(19(19%%)

BusBusineinesssTraTravelvelersers

(55(55%)%)

LeiLeisursureeVisVisitoitorsrs(25(25%)%)

GovGovernernmenment (t (10%10%))

OthOther er (1%(1%))

Cheyenne’s Lodging Customer Mix

Source: Visit Cheyenne, 2013 Lodging Survey

CHC EYYENNNENE WYWYOMOMININGG U.U.S.S

25%25%

50%50

75%5%63.8.8%%

5757.0%%62.33%%

Cheyenne vs. WY, U.S. Occupancy Rates, 2013

Source: Smith Travel ResearchSource: Smith Travel Research

State and Local Tax Receipts Generated by Travel Spending

MILLION N $$

00 33 66 9 12 155

2222020012

2222020010

2222020009

$14.44

2222020011 $14.333

$13.999

$1$ 3.000

Source: Wyoming Office of Tourism and Dean Runyan Associates

RESEARCH DATA

www.Cheyenne.org User Research, 2013

Considering a Trip to Cheyenne (39%)

Already Planning a Trip (50%)

Not Traveling (11%)

Where are you in your trip planning process?

Very Positive (32%)

Positive (55%)

Mixed (10%)

Poor (3%)

How satisfied were you with Cheyenne.org?

Search Engine (75%)

Advertising (4%)

Word of Mouth (4%)

Social Media (6%)

Other (11%)

How did you find Cheyenne.org?

WHY THE COWBOY in Visit Cheyenne advertising?

Visit Cheyenne awarded marketing grants to the New Year’s Eve Ball Drop, Depot Summer Events, 17th Street Arts Festival, Frontier Days Hall of Fame Ceremony, Sherman Hill Model Railroad Show, Cheyenne International Film Festival, ShootOut Cheyenne Filmmaking Contest, Art Design & Dine, Forever West Brewfest, Southeast WY Farm & Crop Expo, and to Laramie County, Albin, Pine Bluffs, Burns, and Cheyenne.

Visit Cheyenne worked with the Wyoming Office of Tourism to create a Cheyenne sticker featuring the Capitol and Challenger steam engine for distribution at visitor centers throughout Wyoming.

Visit Cheyenne researched the functionality and usability of its website through two consumer focus groups and an online survey. Based on the consumer feedback, Visit Cheyenne improved its site and will continue to do so in 2014.

Visit Cheyenne’s website hosted 413,432 user sessions in 2013 (+7% from 2012) and booked 371 room nights (+96%) worth $64,219 (+39) on the site. Traffic to Visit Cheyenne’s mobile website on handheld devices increased 39%.

In addition to its year-round marketing efforts, Visit Cheyenne ran summer promotions including TV ads in surrounding states, regional radio ads featuring local festivals, and a direct mail promotion to 6,000 previous Cheyenne visitors.

Visit Cheyenne managed a strong social media effort, providing updates on Laramie County attractions, events, and other news through Facebook (31,000 fans), Twitter (3,200 followers), Pinterest and LinkedIn.

Visit Cheyenne public relations efforts led to an estimated $485,000 in media value for stories published in 2013, including a Huffington Post

story, a Denver Post feature, a PBS travel show, and the cover of a Japanese U.S. Travel Guide.

Visit Cheyenne hosted 21 travel writers (+62% from 2012) hailing from Colorado (4), North Carolina (2), California, Texas, New Mexico, Illinois, Montana, Australia (6), Italy, England, and Russia. In addition, Visit Cheyenne responded to inquiries for photos and information from both national/international media (70 contacts) and local media (55 contacts).Market research reveals that Cheyenne is a magical western name to

people throughout the United States and world. Cheyenne conjures up classic western images of cowboys, Indians, steam engines, and big skies. This brand has been built by years of movies, TV shows, novels, comic books, and music. As a result, Visit Cheyenne showcases cowboy and train imagery in most of its advertising messages because it is what consumers are expecting to experience in a Cheyenne trip.

Leisure Travel Marketing & Public RelationsVisit Cheyenne placed paid advertising in numerous publications and websites (often in partnership with Frontier Days or the Wyoming Office of Tourism) and responded to 40,796 resulting travel inquiries in 2013.

Visit Cheyenne produced and distributed 5 promotional brochures: Cheyenne Area Visitor Guide, Cheyenne Museum Passport, Tracking Trains in Cheyenne, These Boots Are Made for Talking, and the Pine Bluffs Visitor Guide.

Visit Cheyenne once again ran a major internet advertising campaign targeting consumers within approximately 500 miles of Laramie County. The campaign resulted in 8,521 Visitor Guide requests (+17% from a similar 2012 campaign), 6,327 e-newsletter signups (+49%), and 12,303 new Facebook fans (+39%). Visit Cheyenne and its online advertising partner Madden Media won the prestigious Adrian Gold award from Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International for this campaign.

Visit Cheyenne advertised in group tour publications, promoted the area at 4 group tour trade shows, and hosted 15 tour operators from the United Kingdom as part of a cross country familiarization trip.

Visit Cheyenne promoted Laramie County on 12 billboards throughout the region.

Visit Cheyenne’s Jill Pope wrote Haunted Cheyenne, a book of local ghost stories. The book was published in 2013 and is available at local stores and on Amazon.com.

Visit Cheyenne ran an integrated winter marketing campaign aimed at creating weekend overnight stays, using radio advertising, social media, billboards, and targeted e-mails.

VISIT CHEYENNE 2013 ACTIVITIES

cheyenne.org 800-426-5009

At the Crossroads of I-80 & I-25

Your Gateway

to Wyoming’s Fall and Winter

800-426-5009 www.cheyenne.org

WY

2,300 Hotel Rooms

140 RestaurantsAttractions

Galore!

CHEYENNE

FRONTIER

DAYS™

July 19-28, 2013

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“Visit Cheyenne’s services have enabled us to have a more professional approach to our meeting and enabled us to give better service to our members. It is a service that

I can’t believe we ever had to live without before.”

Erin Taylor WYOMING TAXPAYERS ASSOCIATION

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Convention Marketing & ServicesVisit Cheyenne provided 31 bids for new convention business to lodging partners. Winning bids represented an estimated 3,200 room nights, $2 million in direct spending, and $213,000 in state and local taxes.

Visit Cheyenne continued providing extensive convention services to several other major conventions, including the WY Governor’s Tourism Conference and WY Business Alliance Governor’s Fall Forum. These two conventions were responsible for an estimated 1,400 hotel room nights, $375,000 in visitor spending, and $41,000 in state and local taxes.

Visit Cheyenne unveiled a new program to take advantage of the networks of association memberships that local residents have throughout Wyoming and beyond. The Meetings Express program offers gift certif icates as incentives for residents to provide leads about potential meetings that could be held in Laramie County.

Visit Cheyenne added a colorful cell phone charging station to its convention services arsenal which already includes online registration, onsite registration assistance, a registration desk, a mobile meeting website, convention materials, and welcome receptions.

Visit Cheyenne assisted 139 conventions with brochures, coupons, planning, and registration help (-6% from 2012).

Visit Cheyenne expanded its evening event options for convention groups and bus tours. In addition to events at the WY State Museum and the Old West Museum, Visit Cheyenne helped create new group options: Magic at the Atlas Theater, Freedom’s Edge Brewpub Tasting event, and a Shake It Up Painting party.

Community & Industry EffortsVisit Cheyenne continued working with the City of Cheyenne and WY Department of Transportation to create a “quiet zone” for the South West Drive train crossing near many of Cheyenne’s hotels. The project is expected to be complete in late 2014.

Visit Cheyenne held training sessions for the area hospitality industry on social

media practices and the motorcoach industry (featuring the chair of the National Tour Association).

Visit Cheyenne provided its annual hospitality trolley tours to hotel staff so they are better prepared to

recommend the Trolley and area attractions to hotel guests.

Visitor ServicesVisit Cheyenne operated year-round visitor centers in Pine Bluffs and the Cheyenne Depot.

Visit Cheyenne modernized the visitor experience at the Depot’s visitor center with a more welcoming information desk. Another addition was a photo kiosk that allows visitors to photograph themselves and instantly share the resulting Cheyenne-themed photo via social media. Visitors took and shared 2,596 of these electronic photo postcards in 2013.

Visit Cheyenne provided a coupon program at no cost to participating hospitality businesses, available via a

coupon book and Visit Cheyenne’s website.

Visit Cheyenne produced monthly and daily Calendar of Events for hoteliers and their guests.

Visit Cheyenne operated 3 Cheyenne Street Railway trolleys, providing summer historic tours, Halloween and Christmas specialty tours, and transportation for conventions and events like the WWII Veterans Honor Flights. More than 17,000 total passengers (+20%) rode the trolleys in 2013.

PROUD MEMBER/PARTNER

SM

n Meetings Express

The average meeting brings $200,000 worth of economic activity to Cheyenne.

Provide Visit Cheyenne with a meeting lead and be entered into our quarterly drawing.

Hosting a meeting in Cheyenne has never been easier. We can help plan it, assist with registration, print your name badges, book your hotel and meeting space, and even host an opening reception for you*. Tell us about the last meeting you went to and help us bring it to Cheyenne. *For qualified meetings

We All Win When Cheyenne Hosts Meetings!

307-778-3133

For more information or to submit your referral online, visit:WWW.CHEYENNE.ORG/MEETINGS

g.g. For For qualiqualified fied meetimeetingsngs

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Cheyenne LEADs

Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce

Greater Cheyenne Foundation

Wyoming Office of Tourism

Wyoming Travel Industry Coalition

National Tour Association

American Bus Association

Wyoming Society of Association Executives

Hospitality Services and Meetings

Associations Industry

Society of Governmental Meeting

Professionals

Meeting Planners International

Professional Convention Managers

Association

Destination Marketing Association

International

Visit Cheyenne has earned DMAI’s highest

professional visitor bureau accreditation.

Visit Cheyenne Board Members in 2013 Rick Keslar

Wyoming Dept. of Transportation and

Cheyenne Frontier Days

Scott French Little America Hotel & Resort

Amiee Reese Old West Museum

Steve Farkas University of Wyoming

Bob Nelson Nelson Museum of the West

Judy Johnstone Burns Mayor

René Baker Pine Bluffs Town Hall

Jim Osterfoss Nagle Warren Mansion B&B

Wendy Volk Number One Properties

Lisa Murphy Laramie County

Community College

Jim Brown (ex officio) Cheyenne City Council

Troy Thompson (ex officio) Laramie County Commissioner

Help Us Promote Cheyenne!Invite your friends and relatives to visit.

Ride the Cheyenne Street Railway Trolley.

Host a meeting or retreat in Cheyenne for organizations of which you are a member.

Subscribe to our e-newsletter at www.cheyenne.org.

Help spread good news about the area: Facebook.com/VisitCheyenne Twitter: @CheyenneWY Linkedin.com/company/Visit-Cheyenne Pinterest.com/VisitCheyenne

VISIT CHEYENNE The Convention & Visitors Bureau

121 W 15th St, Suite 202 Cheyenne, Wyoming 82001

307-778-3133 800-426-5009

WWW.CHEYENNE.ORG

Pine Bluffs Visitors CenterI-80 at Pine Bluffs Exit 401 Pine Bluffs, Wyoming 82082

307-245-3695 307-245-3746

Bob HarmonBoard Member 2008-12