“Natrona County lodging tax receipts jump in November” plus 1 more |
| Natrona County lodging tax receipts jump in November Posted: 18 Dec 2010 05:06 PM PST Lodging tax revenues in Natrona County in November exceeded projected revenues and dwarfed receipts from a year ago, according to a report from the Casper Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. People staying in local hotels paid $122,876 in lodging taxes in November, $14,000 more than anticipated and $43,641 more than the $79,235 collected the same time period in 2009, according to the report released Thursday at the monthly meeting of the Natrona County Travel and Tourism Council. The November receipts were the third highest for the Convention and Visitors Bureau in the past 20 years, its CEO, Aaron McCreight, said. Lodging tax receipts depend on when hotels report collections to the state and when the state distributes the revenues to the counties, McCreight said. Previous months' receipts had been low, so November became a month to catch up, he said. "Everything will even out." Even so, recent occupancy rates are between 4 percent and 8 percent higher than a year ago, McCreight said. The council, which oversees the collection of the 3 percent lodging tax, is a joint powers board composed of representatives from the city of Casper, Natrona County, Bar Nunn, Edgerton, Evansville and Midwest. Its marketing arm, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, administers the revenues to promote central Wyoming. County voters overwhelmingly approved renewing the tax for another four years in the Nov. 2 general election. In other business, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, with the help of Shawn Houck of Adbay.com, has revamped its mobile website so visitors can easily find daily local events, restaurants, hotels, and directions and maps to find their locations. "The visitors who are coming in, especially the younger ones, are a little more [technologically] savvy," Houck said. The council also approved forwarding $3,000 in grant money to pay for up-front travel expenses for out-of-town coaches and players from the Colorado Rockies organization for the Casper Baseball Camp Jan. 7-9. Reach Tom Morton at (307) 266-0592, or at tom.morton@trib.com. For more information: Log on to the Convention and Visitors Bureau website at www.casperwyoming.info. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Former mayor will lobby for hotels Posted: 18 Dec 2010 03:36 AM PST POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Dec 18, 2010  Former Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann, who resigned in July to make an unsuccessful run for governor, has found his next calling as head of the private-sector Hawaii Hotel & Lodging Association. Hannemann, who championed the state's visitor industry during his political career, will lobby for the hotel industry as president of the statewide organization of 170 hotels, condominiums, time shares and other lodging entities. Hannemann replaces Murray Towill, who retired in August. The Hotel & Lodging Association endorsed Hannemann for governor in June. It also endorsed him two years ago in his re-election campaign. While Hannemann isn't ruling out a return to politics, he said he has long had a personal interest in Hawaii tourism. "If the right opportunity presents itself ... I'll go back into the public arena," he said. "But for now, it's all visitor industry and HHLA. I'll work to leave it better than I found it." If he does leave HHLA for public office, the prevailing sentiment among hoteliers seems to be that their organization would still benefit. With this job, Hannemann said he has come full circle. "My first job was in the visitor industry," said Hannemann, who parked cars at the Waikikian Hotel as a teenager. "(Tourism) is personal to me since it gave me an opportunity to be employed at an early age." As mayor, Hannemann tried to promote tourism and solve the homeless problems that threaten Waikiki tourism. He supported projects ranging from Trump International Hotel Waikiki Beach Walk to Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa in Ko Olina. Hannemann also promoted tourism in North America and Asia alongside members of the Hawaii Tourism Authority and the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau. And as former chairman of the U.S. Conference of Mayors' Tourism and Arts Committee, he was instrumental in getting the National Tourism Promotion Act passed. The act, which went into effect this year, uses visa waiver fees to promote the U.S. as an international destination. "We are confident that Mufi's experience and credentials make him the ideal candidate to be an effective advocate for Hawaii's lodging industry on government-related issues and to help foster a positive relationship with the community," said Chris Tatum, HHLA chairman and area vice president of Marriott International. A former director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, Hannemann brings strong private and public sector experience and collaboration skills to the job, said Kelvin Bloom, HHLA vice chairman and president of Aston Hotels & Resorts. "He understands tourism and has a firm grasp of the challenges facing the industry," he said. Subscribe to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser: Monday-Sunday
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