Wyoming’s Destination Development Grant Supports Tourism Industry & Workforce in Teton County, WY

A two-year Destination Development Program Grant awarded to the JHTTB from the Wyoming Office of Tourism (WOT) has been allocated to:

• finalize a tourism dashboard to measure visitor impacts on the local community ($172,638),
• produce a Destination Expert Course in English and Spanish ($28,630),
• fund a portion of the START bus airport shuttle for winter 24-25 and winter 25-26, in partnership with the Town of Jackson, Teton County and the Jackson Hole Airport($145,000),
• provide bear-resistant trash cans throughout downtown Jackson ($60,000),
• fund “Welcome to JH” events produced by the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce to provide resources for incoming workers ($28,000), and
• recognize and appreciate the local tourism-industry workforce ($15,000).

The six partnerships are intended to support workforce recruitment and retention, develop community transportation solutions, enhance the visitor experience, and protect Jackson’s natural and cultural resources.

The Destination Development Program launched in 2022 “to help Wyoming destinations develop their communities to be visitor-ready and to have the capacity to leverage the visitor economy.” Teton County was awarded $600,000 in July of 2024 to be used by June 30, 2026 for projects related to destination marketing, visitor experience development, workforce recruitment, and resident education. As a leading tourist destination, the Jackson Hole Travel & Tourism Board earmarked the special reserve funds to advance the work of the Sustainable Destination Management Plan (SDMP) that could not otherwise be funded by the JHTTB’s lodging tax funds.

“Thanks to the Wyoming Office of Tourism, we’re able to form local and statewide partnerships that have an immediate positive impact on our community,” says JHTTB Executive Director, Crista Valentino. “Without Destination Development Program funds, a lot of this work to create a more sustainable destination would not be possible.”

A majority of the funding allocated will support Teton County’s tourism workforce, a need identified in SDMP Stewardship Goal 3: Workforce Recruitment and Retention. Work with two trusted JHTTB partners, University of Wyoming’s WORTH Initiative and the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce, will develop and produce two training programs, available in English and Spanish, and four events to educate existing and incoming industry employees with Jackson-specific resources and information. Working in conjunction, the Destination Stewardship Council’s Workforce Working Group will use additional funding to develop meaningful workforce appreciation programs that lead to workforce retention and, ultimately, a more resilient and welcoming workforce.

“Supporting Jackson’s tourism employees is key to creating a sustainable and resilient destination,” says Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce CEO, Rick Howe. “These programs will provide invaluable resources to our workforce and ensure cohesive communications and shared stewardship across the entire destination.”

In addition to workforce recruitment and retention, the partnerships with Teton County’s START bus system and the Town of Jackson address community needs that benefit both residents and visitors. The partnership with the Town of Jackson will convert 75 trash cans around town to bear-resistant containers to help protect humans and wildlife. The partnership with START, co-funded by the Town of Jackson, Teton County, and the Jackson Hole Airport, will fund the airport shuttle program to run in winter 24 – 25 and winter 25 – 26, providing affordable transportation to and from the Jackson Hole Airport. These projects help to tackle immediate needs communicated by the community and identified as priorities by Town and County staff while supporting SDMP Stewardship Goal 1: Education and Communications and Goal 5: Transportation and Mobility.

With leadership by the University of Wyoming, the JHTTB will release a tourism dashboard for the destination in October 2024. The industry-leading dashboard will use over 30 data points to visually share the story of Jackson’s dynamic tourism industry in a way that’s easily-accessible and regularly-updated for public use. This effort correlates with SDMP Goal 7, Monitoring and Reporting by “monitor[ing] tourism and its impacts on people and place (all lands, all communities).”

WOT’s Destination Development Program provides unprecedented support that allows the JHTTB to partner with Wyoming-based organizations to benefit our local community with solutions to local challenges including  workforce recruitment and retention, transportation and mobility, and education and communications. These partnerships, approved on August 8, 2024 by the JHTTB, represent 75% of the total $600,000 grant awarded from the Wyoming Office of Tourism. The remaining funds will be allocated at a later date to additional  projects that advance the SDMP.

Through strategic allocation of Teton County’s lodging tax funds, we steward Jackson Hole toward a sustainable destination, where our leadership, marketing, management, and community engagement ensure the vitality of our natural and human ecosystems.