Wyoming hopes ad campaign will lure tourists

Tourism is a little like fishing for cutthroat trout; first you get them interested, then you set the hook.

Wyoming’s primary bait this year as always is myriad opportunities for outdoor recreation and wildlife viewing, including such blockbuster international attractions as Yellowstone National Park.

The tackle used to hook this economic lunker is millions of dollars in promotional efforts, spent by groups across the state.

And the potential payoff is handsome. In 2003, visitors spent $1.9 billion in Wyoming, according to a study by Dean Runyan Associates.

Diane Shober, director of Wyoming Travel and Tourism, said the state has already started a $997,000 national magazine campaign. The three ads feature mementos of items that might be indicative of a Wyoming vacation. There’s a sheriff’s badge and a colorful mineral specimen, a Buffalo Bill Cody coin and a jackalope statuette. Each is tucked in a shadow box slot.

"It might not necessarily be a souvenir you would pick up in Wyoming, but things that would represent Wyoming as a vacation," Shober said.

By TOM MAST
Star-Tribune staff writer

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