Yellowstone tourism outlook strong

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park tourism officials say they're optimistic the state's summer tourism season won't take a heavy hit from the national economic recession.

All they have to do is look to last summer, when Wyoming generated more tourist dollars than ever before despite $4-per-gallon gasoline prices that some feared would keep travelers home.

Tourism industry officials say it's hard to predict how the peak summer season will shape up until July. However, the state tourism office said that as of last week, Internet and phone inquiries were on track with 2008.

"We never know until actually the visitors start coming," said Diane Shober, director of Wyoming Travel and Tourism. "In this economic climate, I actually expected things to be down a little bit in terms of people looking into planning vacations, but to know that we're on track with 2008 is encouraging."

Tourism ranks second, only behind mineral resources, for its contribution to the state's economy. Shober said her department is still finalizing 2008 numbers, but projections for the year show tourism figures were at record highs. The projections normally vary only slightly from final counts, she said.

Visitors to Wyoming spent a total of $2.9 billion in 2008, up 7 percent over 2007, according to the projections. That spending generated $44 million in local tax revenue and $66 million in state tax revenues.

The projections also show that Wyoming tourism generated $701 million in total income for people employed in the state's travel, tourism and hospitality sectors in 2008, Shober said. That's up 3.7 percent from 2007.

Xanterra Parks and Resorts, the operator of Yellowstone's hotels, this week announced package deals to attract park visitors during the spring, which is normally a slower period. The deals, which could save visitors up to 25 percent from peak-season prices, end June 17.

Rick Hoeninghausen, sales and marketing director for Xanterra in Yellowstone, said advance reservation patterns began to look softer when gloomy economic news became the norm last fall. Summer and fall bookings are behind 2008 levels, he said.

"Although I'm encouraged when we look ahead to the later part of this year, there's still more availability right now than we've had at this time of year for many years," Hoeninghausen said. "It's a great opportunity right now because if you're ever going to come to Yellowstone, there's rooms available right now that you wouldn't have found at this time last year."