At a strategic-planning workshop in Weston County, representatives from the Wyoming Office of Tourism and consulting partners told the county’s lodging-tax board they must complete a strategic plan to be eligible for state destination development money and clarified how local lodging-tax revenue may be spent.

Amy Larson, destination and experience manager for the Wyoming Office of Tourism, said the state has set aside money for destination development and the strategic plan is the gateway to apply. “A couple of years ago when we switched over to the statewide lodging tax, we were able to secure about $5,000,000 of funding toward destination development programming,” Larson said, adding that the program now requires a local strategic plan before counties can apply.

The workshop combined how-to guidance on running a destination marketing and management organization (DMO) with a statutory overview of lodging-tax rules. Brooke Lee Young, a consultant with Young Strategies who led much of the session, told attendees the lodging-tax board’s core mission is to bring nonlocal visitors into the county and that spending should be evaluated against that principle. “The principle should be your use of the lodging tax: your lodging-tax expenditures to the side of bringing people from the outside into your county and get them to spend more money within the county,” Young said.

Key points for Weston County officials and volunteers

- Strategic plan requirement and destination development funds: Workshop presenters said a completed strategic plan is required to apply for state destination development funding. The state reviews proposed projects to confirm they match the strategic plan and advance visitation.

- Scale of state funds: Presenters reported the program has received several allocations; Larson described an earlier allocation of about $5 million and consultants later said the legislature established roughly a $10 million, two-year pool for destination development grants shared statewide.

- Permitted uses of local lodging-tax dollars: The presenters summarized Wyoming lodging-tax guidance discussed at the workshop: permitted uses include advertising and promotion, digital content, social-media promotion, staging events, and tourism-related educational materials. They said lodging-tax revenue generally cannot be used for construction or physical improvements, although leasing a facility may be allowable in some arrangements.

- Destination development vs. lodging-tax spending: Presenters emphasized that the state destination-development pool is a separate funding source with a broader scope (including infrastructure in some approved cases) but that the local lodging-tax fund remains restricted to promotional and tourism-related programming unless the county secures other funding or a state grant.

- Administrative rules and local options: The session reviewed an administrative option that allows lodging-tax boards to return up to 10% of collections to local governments to cover the cost of administering the tax (for example, clerks’ time). Presenters cautioned boards not to conflate that 10% return with operational staffing decisions—most boards keep the majority of lodging-tax revenue for marketing and visitor outreach.

Budget and staffing guidance

Young and other presenters offered industry norms attendees can use in budgeting. For a cited example budget of $140,000, the suggested allocation was roughly: at least 50% for outreach/marketing (advertising, digital, co-op buys), 10–15% for overhead or operational costs (office, visitor information), and 30–40% for staffing where the budget supports a paid staff member to work with the agency of record.

Operational advice and examples

Presenters urged the board to define clear bylaws, streamline meetings, assign board members to specific functions (signage, finance, agency liaison) and avoid micromanaging an agency of record. Sawyer Schleicher, the Wyoming Office of Tourism regional partner activation manager, was identified as the primary state contact for PR and partner-portal support: as Amy Larson put it, “if you have a PR question or if you have a website question, any question you have, you just go straight to Sawyer.”

They discussed using state co-op marketing channels to extend the county’s reach without ceding control of local messaging—county ads purchased through state programs are placed as Weston County-specific creative, presenters said. Examples from other counties included using destination-development funds for wayfinding signage, websites, and trail promotion; presenters noted the state evaluates which projects are the most pressing before awarding destination-development grants.

Board members and several local participants raised practical issues—how to collaborate across small towns in the county, how to secure DOT signage, and how to prioritize projects such as veterans memorials or trail upgrades. Presenters repeatedly emphasized the legal and mission boundaries of lodging-tax funds, encouraging boards to help applicants find alternative funding sources when a request falls outside the tax statute.

Next steps

Presenters said the current workshop is intended to produce a short strategic plan and two or three strategic initiatives Weston County can use to apply for destination-development funding. Officials were told they will receive the session slide deck and partner-portal instructions, and that the state’s destination-development application will be the next formal step if Weston County completes its plan.