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Visit North Platte reports lodging-tax receipts up 9% in 2025; cites golf resort and sandhill-crane tourism
Summary
Visit North Platte executive director Lisa Burke told the board that lodging-tax receipts for 2025 were $1,360,000 (a 9% increase over 2024), credited partly to a high‑end golf property and to sandhill‑crane related tourism; the group also reported marketing impressions, kiosk use and grant awards.
Lisa Burke, executive director of Visit North Platte, told the Lincoln County Board on April 6 that lodging‑tax receipts totaled $1,360,000 for 2025, an increase of about 9% over 2024. "This last year, we brought in $1,360,000. That is up 9% over 2024," Burke said, adding that a high‑price golf property substantially influenced the total.
Burke cautioned that monthly allocations reported by the Nebraska Department of Revenue sometimes appear shuffled across months and said the office uses industry subscription data to validate trends. She described website and kiosk metrics (roughly 169,000 unique visitors in 2025 and about 81,000 kiosk sessions) and said visitors spend about two to three minutes on online pages and kiosks, indicating engagement.
The presentation included tourism economic figures: Burke cited a $121 million spending figure for 2023 from a prior study, and a Dean Runyan economic-impact component showing $28 million in visitor spending over a six‑week sandhill‑crane period in a recent study; the sandhill crane work also identified roughly 35,000 unique visitors who stayed an average of just over three days. Burke said Visit North Platte awarded $156,962 in promotional grants in 2025 and has awarded almost $5.9 million in brick‑and‑mortar grants across Lincoln County over the past 18 years to support events and facility improvements.
Board members discussed the distribution of grant funding to small communities and asked about metrics and third‑party studies. Burke said some studies (Dean Runyon and university surveys) are helpful, but she expressed reservations about paying for a new economic‑impact study when state reporting is still being reconciled.
Thomas Wolfgang, chair of Visit North Platte's board, thanked staff and commissioners for partnership and mentioned new sports‑tourism opportunities being pursued with Airstream Ventures. The presentation emphasized that tourism‑generated tax revenue—about $10 million cited for the county—supports local projects and that marketing targets the Omaha, Denver front range and regional states.
The board thanked the presenters and took no separate action beyond receiving the report.
