The Wyoming Hospitality and Travel Coalition is comprised of more than 500 restaurants, lodging properties of all sizes, campgrounds, museums and attractions, rodeos, distilleries, craft brewers, Destination Marketing Organizations and other businesses related to hospitality and travel in Wyoming. Joining is easy. Membership is based on the size of your business and dues are annual. We have 3 different categories to welcome your business. Restaurant/Food Service, Lodging/Overnight Accommodations and Tourism/Attraction/Recreation. Your support plays a vital role in promoting and protecting our industry. Please consider joining today.
The Wyoming Hospitality and Travel Coalition is the statewide trade association focused on protecting and promoting the hospitality and tourism industry in Wyoming. We work as an extension of your staff to advocate, provide timely and current communication and are here as a resource for you to reach out to with any industry related challenges or questions. Advocacy The WHTC has a seasoned, respected lobbyist that is at the capitol every single day of the legislature and is engaged with decision makers throughout the year. We have our hand on the pulse on ANYTHING politically that affects our industry, and we get the job done. The association director spent more than 20 years working in the restaurant industry before taking this position 11 years ago.
Some examples of how we have helped your bottom line.
Wyoming was in the top 5 LEAST restricted states during COVID, and we had direct communication with Governor Gordon and his staff throughout the pandemic to ensure the industry voice was being considered.
We helped with the passage of the Covid19 liability protection bill during the special session, protecting business from Covid related lawsuits.
We defeated a corporate income tax bill focused SOLEY on hospitality and retail, multiple times.
We helped defeat a bill that would have extended sales tax audit look back periods from 3 years to 5 years.
We defeated a proposal to eliminate the Wyoming Office of Tourism and instead…
We significantly INCREASED the state tourism budget to be more competitive with our surrounding states. The next 5 years will see many more travelers coming to Wyoming and therefore to your property, as a result.
We have strengthened local tourism promotion efforts and work with nearly all Destination Marketing Organizations (DMO’s) around the state.
Communication- We provide industry with updates throughout the year. We keep you current with anything going on that is important to industry. Weekly during legislative session, monthly outside of legislative session and any time there is something going on that industry needs to know about (for example we held webinars throughout the covid pandemic, helping members understand how to prepare for and apply for the state and federal relief programs.) We have also held numerous educational webinars on the statewide lodging tax. We keep you informed on any major events impacting your business.
One stop shop for all issues- One of the biggest benefits to membership is the ability to call us with whatever issue is challenging your business. Lodging Tax questions? Dept of Revenue related issues? Dept of Workforce Services related issues? Whatever the issue is they can call us directly and if we don’t know the answer immediately, we will find out and get back to them promptly.
Educational and Networking opportunities- Annually we host several amazing conferences including The Wyoming Governor’s Hospitality and Tourism Conference as well as the Fall Hospitality and Tourism Summit. We also periodically host educational webinars on relevant topics throughout the year to stay current with trends in our industry. Industry leaders from across Wyoming engage with the WHTC to stay current with cutting edge best practices.
