CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The 2023 Cheyenne Frontier Days saw another “banner-high year” for visitors; however, many of them did not stay in local accommodations compared to 2022, according to Visit Cheyenne.
During a City Council work session this afternoon, Domenic Bravo, president and CEO of Cheyenne’s tourism information center, said overall the city experienced a 6% reduction in lodging tax for July.
“It was an interesting Cheyenne Frontier Days,” he said during the session. “Even though we had record numbers, we ended up not having as many overnight stays as we have previously.”
Bravo said he does not have the exact statistics for 2023, as Visit Cheyenne receives that data in March 2024.
The 2022 CFD year in review, according to Bravo, is as follows:
- Visitors spent more than $440 million in the county
- $27 million state and local taxes generated by tourism
- $63 million Hotel and Short-Term Rental Revenue in Laramie County
- 4,696 jobs in the tourism industry of Laramie County
- 2.6 million overnight visitors to Laramie County
- 12.3 million facebook impressions, up 311% over 2020
- 46.1 million ad impressions
Bravo said he believes the visitors chose to stay in nearby communities, including Fort Collins and Laramie, driving to Cheyenne during the day. They might not have been willing to pay for high hotel room rates in the capital city.
“We really don’t like to have any vacancies [in the hotels] and we rarely do,” he said, “but the previous years folks were willing to pay for larger rates.”
Councilmember Ken Esquibel asked what impact local Airbnbs had on the lodging tax, while Councilmember Michelle Aldrich asked how Visit Cheyenne is tracking the number of Airbnb users, as no license is required to be a host.
Bravo said Airbnb, as well as campgrounds, are a part of that 6% decrease. He responded that the exact data on users will have to come from the state’s Office of Tourism.
The president added that two local lodging facilities opened right before CFD, which was “fantastic” as hotels after the pandemic were sitting at a 70% occupancy rate.
“We definitely have the market and have those rooms going and I did think it added into being to fill those,” he said. “That’s why we are really strategic about how rates are adjusted for Cheyenne Frontier Days.”
