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Tourism office reports nearly $1.5M in lodging tax and launches indoor-sports feasibility study
Summary
Sweetwater County Travel & Tourism reported nearly $1.5 million in lodging-tax collections for the last fiscal year, said 79% of the revenue went to marketing, and announced a feasibility study due in April for a proposed indoor sports facility.
Janessa Meredith, CEO of Sweetwater County Travel & Tourism, presented the agency’s 2024 annual report and highlighted several economic metrics tied to the county’s lodging tax. "This last fiscal year, it collected almost 1,500,000," Meredith told the commission, and she said 79% of the local lodging-tax revenue is spent on marketing to generate visitation.
Meredith said tourism marketing influenced nearly $86,000,000 in visitor spending and drove about 59,000 visits last year. She also described development projects funded or supported by the lodging tax: a $100,000 Wyoming Office of Outdoor Recreation grant for the Henry’s Fork interpretive site near Manila, wayfinding signage upgrades, and a feasibility study for a possible indoor sports facility due in late April. "That study will be done in April," she said.
Why it matters: Meredith said tourism directly supports about 1,500 local jobs and generates more than $160 million in annual visitor spending countywide. Commissioners thanked the tourism office for work to recruit events and noted the lodging-tax program’s role in funding local events and facility improvements.
What happens next: The tourism board will complete the feasibility study, return to the commission with findings, and the county will consider lodging-tax allocations at budget time.
