CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Thanks to the state’s natural landscapes, rodeos and historic sites, tourism is booming in Wyoming. As the new secretary of Destinations International’s executive committee, Domenic Bravo aims to keep Wyoming as a national leader in tourism innovation while it continues to learn from the rest of the world.
Destinations International is a global association for tourism organizations. Cities, states and municipalities from across the world join the group to learn best practices for promoting tourism in their communities, train as tourism professionals and share data and growth strategies.
With Domenic Bravo, executive director of the Wyoming Office of Tourism, as the new secretary of the organization’s executive committee, Wyoming is well-positioned for continued success in the industry.
“It helps support the overall tourism economy and really try to uplift destination organizations with providing professional development resources, best practices, all of those things that help us be better at what we do,” Bravo said.
The executive committee steers the direction Destination International goes in helping promote its members. As secretary, Bravo is the connective tissue of the group, managing communication and meeting agendas.
Wyoming is no stranger to promoting tourism, as it’s the second-largest industry in the state. Bravo’s been a big part in drawing more tourists in every year, first as the president and CEO of Visit Cheyenne — where he helped push the city through one of the strangest years for tourism in 2020 — and currently as the executive director of the state office of tourism.
He said that a lot of the job since he was appointed last year has been promoting the state’s rural destinations, growing tourism there while still helping maintain the quiet country charm that makes them special.
“They’re super smart and they’re innovative and they want to make a difference. A lot of things come down to making it so you remove some of the hurdles, and whether that’s funding or helping them pull together more strategy, they’re just primed to really dive into the tourism economy,” Bravo said.
A seat at the table of one of the largest tourism associations in the world will help those areas, as well as tourism destinations like the state’s parks and large events like Cheyenne Frontier Days and the College National Finals Rodeo, grow more responsibly.
“Wyoming being able to engage on that national level to talk about various policies, benchmarking and be able to provide those tools and thoughts to our counterparts across the globe, it’s a benefit both to us and to the globe,” Bravo said.
Companies partner with Destinations International as well. Membership means Wyoming tourism is even closer to airlines, marketing firms and even camera and cinematography companies that the state can use as resources.
As strong as tourism is in Wyoming, there are plenty of things other states do better that it can learn from.
“Large events: We definitely could learn a lot and maybe bring some new ones to our state that could really benefit us economically, especially for some of those shoulder seasons,” Bravo said.
But the world has a lot to learn from Wyoming as well, and Bravo added this new role will only help promote what interesting things the state is doing.
“Wyoming is such a great testing grounds for innovation because, for us, we’re able to really do a few strategic things that we see results in really quickly,” he said.
He touted a visitor management system Wyoming is testing out that tracks where in the state most tourists are going so that the tourism office can focus on emphasizing the less-traveled parts of the state other parts of the year. Being rural and usually quiet during shoulder seasons is an advantage for testing out those kinds of systems.
“We can show true results fairly quickly and then those types of things could easily be replicated in other communities,” he said.
As a state with so many rural voices, Wyoming is positioned to be a champion of the little communities everywhere. “That’s the voice I always bring,” he said. “‘Don’t forget our small communities and what we can do to remove those hurdles and help them be successful.’”
Wyoming residents can run into policymakers in grocery stores, Bravo said. The state is very unique for its connection between everyday folk and the people whose decisions the economy depends on. Wyoming can be a model for what a state that goes all-in on tourism can do, he said.
“Wyoming has always been a leader and an innovator across all sectors, so why wouldn’t we be at the at the forefront for tourism?” he asked.
See Travel Wyoming for more information on tourism in the state.
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