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Tourism Committee
Scott Haden - Chairperson

Committee Report

The Tourism Committee was able to accomplish a great deal in 2007. In addition to our regular yearly activities of publishing vacation guides, city maps, HS directories, brochures, billboards and buying local TV advertising and national print ads, I would like to highlight a few significant events that occurred this past year.

In January, we successfully hosted the Rocky Mountain International Roundup, a gathering of suppliers of international tour operators. As a result of this major convention, Hot Springswill see the return on our investment through a significant increase in tour visitors in 2008.

Since many, if not most, tourists are using the Internet to plan their vacations, we significantly upgraded our website by adding many new features and capabilities. In addition, we added the capability for visitors to view 360° photographs of local Hot Springs attractions and scenery using either our website or Google Earth.

We implemented a summer Walking Tour of the historic downtown business district highlighting both the architectural and historical aspects of our beautiful city. Although this was not a high volume activity, the feedback was very positive and several of the participants indicated they were going to spend extra time in Hot Springs shopping and visiting our attractions.

Throughout the year, we hosted various travel writers who were invited to write articles in their publications promoting Hot Springs. This significantly leverages our tourist budget by achieving national press for a fraction of advertising costs.

In September, we hosted the National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo, held concurrently with our local Badger Clark Poetry Gathering. This brought in many people from all over the US to experience the hospitality of our city. Feedback was outstanding with many participants indicating future vacation trips to the area. As a result, we plan to expand the NCPR to a full three days in 2008.

Much work was done this past year to prepare for a cooperative venture with Hill City, Custer and Edgemont in producing a 2008 Southern Hills Vacation Guide with Hot Springs being selected as the distribution point. This will both expand our advertising reach and provide more immediate response to potential visitors.

Budget limitations prevented us from having a Rally event in Hot springs this past year but, based upon membership feedback during our 2007 business survey, we expect to host an event in 2008 and planning has already begun.

Scott Haden will be chairing the Tourism Committee in 2008. If you have suggestions or ideas on how we can serve the membership better, please let him know.