Shayla Spragg, who runs the Greybull Museum and Chamber of Commerce, met tourists from all over the world last year.
Greybull is a favorite stop along the way for tourists who are driving to Yellowstone National Park.
South Africa, Sweden — you name the country — Spragg likely met a visitor who was from there.
This year, however, things are different. Tourists are visiting Greybull earlier than she’s used to, but most of what she’s seeing are domestic tourists.
“I have actually not met any international tourists this year, yet anyway,” Spragg told Cowboy State Daily. “We’re already getting pretty busy, though, so I’m hopeful we’re still going to have a good summer.”
Spragg’s experience matched what Sen. Mike Gierau is seeing in his Jackson restaurant. The Teton County Democrat hasn’t seen as many international tourists so far, but the crowds do seem to be starting a tad earlier than usual.
“It’s not the best summer we’ve ever had,” he said. “But it’s not bad. It’s not a home run, but we’re doing just fine. I don’t think anyone needs to worry about it.”
The lack of international tourism is something Gierau attributes to a message he feels the United States has been sending out lately, that foreigners are less than welcome.
“We’re sending a message around the world that we don’t want you to come,” he said. “I don’t know what else to say. When you put a travel ban on foreigners or you want to charge more for foreigners (at National Parks), I think it’s just like we’re sending a message that we don’t want foreigners to come here.”
Gierau was referring to a proposal from the Trump administration to charge foreign visitors more when they visit national parks. He feels the proposal could further depress visits from foreigners, while others in Wyoming said they aren’t too worried, given the fact foreign visitors plan these trips far in advance and, in many cases, have already paid for them or put down deposits.
Wyoming, Gierau added, has always done a good job of pivoting when it comes to tourism.
“When one door closes, well it’s OK, we’ll try to market to another group,” he said. “See if we can’t get another door to open.”
In Cody, tour bus operator Alvin Heggie, owner of Cody Shuttle, said he’s been successful in increasing his own international tourism slice by leaning into the personal touch, and providing special services, like helping disabled tourists tick off bucket list items.
But even he agrees that certain tourists from certain countries, such as China, do appear more absent than usual.
He, too, has seen an earlier start to the season, something he attributes to schools letting out earlier.
He’s hoping optimism about the economy will help drive more domestic tourism to make up for any loss from international visitors. But he acknowledges it’s equally possible pessimism could drive more domestic tourism, too. Those worried about their jobs and paychecks might skip expensive international travel in favor of road trips.
A Small But Important Slice
International tourism isn’t a large percentage of Wyoming’s nearly $5 billion industry, Office of Tourism Director Diane Shober told Cowboy State Daily.
“It certainly matters, because international visitors have a tendency to spend more and stay longer,” she said. “They travel in the shoulder seasons a lot, especially Europeans. So, I don’t want to minimize the value of the international visitor, but it usually represents, on average, about 10% of our overall visitation.”
International tourism is an area that she has eyed for growth, Shober said.
“You grow the output of the visitor economy by increasing the number of visitors and/or increasing the economic spend by the same number of visitors,” she said. “So, there’s a reason why the international market is rich — and I don’t mean rich in their own incomes — but these are much more intentional trips when they’re coming to the Mountain West.”
That more thoughtful approach, for what may be a once-in-a-lifetime trip, contributes to longer stays, doing more things, and traveling in shoulder seasons, which are sometimes a better overall value for travelers.
“(International tourism) is a market that has a really large ROI on it,” Shober said. “Different markets have varying levels of return, but (foreign visitors) are not the entire makeup of Wyoming’s visitation.”
Anecdotally, Shober said she hasn’t yet heard anything about a huge wave of cancellations rippling through Wyoming’s tourism market.
“There haven’t been cancellations to speak of,” she said. “Our concern is more about next year and the following years, because those are trips that are planned far in advance, and they’re a big investment to plan a trip to the U.S. So, the concern is, will people change their travel behavior in the coming year, like ‘26, ‘27?”
A lot can change between now and then, Shober added.
“We’re constantly monitoring a lot of different components,” she said. “But right now, this is not a panic. We’re certainly aware of it, and we’re keeping our ear to the ground, because we do want to be able to be responsive if necessary.”
Tracking International Visitors Is Complicated
Visitors from Europe, Canada and Mexico make up the greatest share of Wyoming’s international tourists, Shober said.
Tracking those incoming visitors involves a lot of complex extrapolations, because other than Casper, Wyoming doesn’t really have many direct international flights.
“The data we get is all historical,” she said. “We’re the least populated state in the nation. So when you want to start to get granular information, there’s not an absolute. You have to look at a variety of sources and put those together, much like a jigsaw puzzle. It paints a picture of what the international inbound looks like.”
Multiple reports, including border crossings from Canada and Mexico are included in that jigsaw puzzle, along with extrapolations based on flight information for places that do have international flights in the region, like Denver.
Stats that can be looked at more immediately are lodging figures, Shober said, which are only 30 days behind. Those, so far, suggest that things are trending upward.
Domestic Tourism Appears Up
The fiscal year 2025, which runs from July through May 31 of this year was 4% ahead, Shober said. That leaves the largest data collection for this year yet ahead. Those months, July, August, and September, will be the first big indicator of what’s happening with Wyoming tourism for this year.
“May collections were relatively flat from May a year ago,” Shober said. “But they are not down.”
By collections, Shober is referring to figures on lodging taxes that travelers pay on overnight stays.
That suggests to Shober that domestic tourism is poised to pick up some slack in international visits, if there is any slack.
Strategically marketing for domestic travelers is always a big part of the marketing mix for Wyoming, Shober added, meaning the state doesn’t need to do a big pivot to lean on that a little harder this year or in subsequent years.
Digital optimization to attract and personalize marketing messages for a particular set of domestic tourists has become a big ace in the hole for Wyoming.
“It’s a competitive industry, people have choices,” Shober said. “They have choices to where they want to go in the United States and the experiences they want. That’s why it’s so important to identify audiences and consumers (whose) value set and their desires for vacation align with what the Wyoming experience would be.”
Once hooked into that, Shober feels like tourists will get a rush from discovering Wyoming’s other less well-known tractions, many of which are off-the-beaten path, helping drive the repeat tourism that is so important to the state’s overall game plan.
“All of the things that we as Wyomingites love are the same things that visitors love,” Shober said.
Tactics to reach the people who will love what Wyoming has to offer are improving all the time, Shober added.
“I mean, when I started out in this business, we were doing direct-mail basis,” she said. “It’s very different today. And it’s a good thing. (Digital marketing) can really inspire a lot of first-time travelers who maybe didn’t have Wyoming in their consideration set. And that’s our job, is to get Wyoming in the consideration set of a consumer who makes sense.”
Wyomingites, meanwhile, who want inspiration for a close-to-home trip have the perfect tool at their disposal, Shober said.
Travelwyoming.com contains itinerary ideas, as well as articles, with all kinds of suggestions for things to do across the state.
That online playbook has become an integral component of the state’s digital marketing efforts, selling the Cowboy State to the nation and the world at large.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
