Hayward Lakes bureau compares Sawyer and Vilas counties, urges better room-tax education
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Summary
Hayward Lakes Visitors Convention Bureau reported takeaways from a tourism conference, compared Sawyer County to Vilas County (roughly 2,100 tourism jobs in Vilas vs. 960 in Sawyer), and said room tax revenues in some Vilas municipalities support substantially larger marketing budgets; bureau staff said they are working to educate townships about room tax use.
Mindy Simons, representing the Hayward Lakes Visitors Convention Bureau, briefed the committee on themes from the Destinations Wisconsin conference, stressing the need for a clear community brand and consistent destination promotion to attract visitors, investment and talent.
Simons said Sawyer County’s tourism economy differs from Vilas County’s because Vilas has multiple communities with developed tourism infrastructures. She reported that Vilas County listed about 2,100 tourism-related jobs in 2024 compared with about 960 in Sawyer County, and that Vilas entities spend roughly $1,100,000 on direct marketing and advertising — citing municipal room-tax collections (for example, Eagle River’s 8% rate) as one driver of that higher marketing spend. "That money is, of course, required by state statute to go directly into tourism advertising and promotions," Simons said, calling the ability to collect and pool room-tax revenue a major factor in marketing capacity.
The Chair and Simons discussed local confusion among lodging businesses about how room tax works; Simons said she is visiting township officials to increase business understanding and encourage accurate messaging about room-tax collection and use. Simons also outlined planned winter marketing activities — radio, YouTube and Google Ads campaigns and partnerships with regional outlets — and said she will continue as an official county snow conditions reporter.
The bureau’s comparison of counties framed a larger question for Sawyer County leaders about whether to pursue more coordinated room-tax strategies or other steps to strengthen tourism marketing capacity.