Morrisons talk tourism development at recent chamber luncheon

Lovell Area Chamber of Commerce board member Bruce Morrison gave a report on tourism developments at the October 21 general membership meeting at the Mustang Café.

Morrison said he and wife Linda (chamber manager) recently attended the Governor’s Conference on Tourism and Hospitality, and he pointed out that tourism is the number two industry in Wyoming.

He said when he first became involved with the chamber of commerce 10 years ago, Lovell was generating around $8,000 a year in lodging tax money from motel rooms, and this year the lodging tax board applied for nearly $25,000 from the Town of Lovell, which receives the lodging tax funds.

“That gives you an indication of what’s happening in our area,” Morrison said. “With our motels reconditioned, we have over 100 rooms in Lovell available to attract more people to the area. Our goal in Big Horn County is to attract people to stay here for a day or two. We have the people in Cody’s attention. Yellowstone is so full of that they’re tired of that. So they’re shipping people down here for a day, or for a few days, to go on Highway 37 (through the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area).

“So that’s what we’re pushing, chamber wise. We’re really pushing to bring more tourism to this area, and it’s going to work. It’s going to happen. So we just encourage you all to jump on that bandwagon, especially for business people, and we just need to be more accommodating to tourism. And things are starting to change. It’s a very good conference. The governor is all about the state, and he’s all about Big Horn County and what’s going on.”

Linda Morrison added that the hospitality industry might be a great place for students to learn to work into business, noting that they would learn to look professional, learn how to meet people, show up, be dependable and more.

“I just think we need to, as a community, really work toward these things, to help (students) so that they succeed,” she said, “but maybe starting with classes to say to kids, ‘You gotta be there, you gotta look right, you gotta act right, you gotta be presentable. You’ve got to be caring.’ Look at people; look them in the face. Learn how to say hi. You know, there’s just so many things that we can do at an elementary, middle school and high school level.”