The Oneida County Tourism Council is made of the heads Minocqua, Three Lakes, and Rhinelander’s visitors bureaus and chamber as well as three county board members with the goal to increase revenue and visitor spending throughout Oneida County.
The council’s budget in 2023 was $85,670 which was spent entirely on marketing, things like the website, newsletter, specific campaigns and more. They were also able to use that for matching to get an additional $50,000 in grant funding in 2023.
In turn in 2023, visitors spent more than $291 million in the county.
“Our marketing doesn't show up here, you're going to see it somewhere else,” said council chair and Executive Director of the Three Lakes Area Visitor’s Bureau Jacqui Sharpe. “You don't always know that you saw our great marketing campaign and then came here to the Northwoods.”
That is until they hear it from local businesses, like Wildwood Wildlife Park Zoo and Safari in Minocqua.
“We do ask people how they hear about us, and be honest with you, the three things are the biggest thing right now is the tourism that they see in magazines, brochures, and billboards. Those are still the top three things that bring people in,” said Judy Domaszek, co-owner of the zoo.
She took part in the Oneida County Tourism Impacts and Insights Panel at Nicolet College Friday.
It was the first year the Oneida County Tourism Council held the event to coincide with National Travel and Tourism Week.
“We thought we should make it more of a celebration. Bring the citizens voices into it a little bit more, celebrating what tourism does here,” said Sharpe.
Also part of the panel were Kimberly Domasek, co-owner of the zoo; Chris Nafziger, operations manager of Tara Lila and President of the Three Eagle Trail Foundation; Mark Cain, who owns operates Three Lakes Winery with his brother Scott; and, Janet Jamison, manager of the Hodag Dome.
While various marketing helps get people to Oneida County to go do activities like visit the zoo and trails, state tourism data shows that money spent on activities is less than a quarter of the total money visitors will spent on trips, most of their money is spent on dining and lodging.
Janet Jamison has seen that firsthand at the Hodag Dome.
Between four weekends of sports tournaments held at the dome and the Rhinelander Ice Arena in February and March, more than 140 teams visited with a total economic impact at an estimated $2.5 million.
“We work really hard to get our calendar out well in advance so that our local businesses can look at that and say, ‘Hey, this is going to be another busy weekend, lets add another staff person’,” said Jamison. “We hear a lot of great feedback about our restaurants, and we send out a feedback form and consistently receive great reviews, both from aspects of our community and the dome staff itself, about how friendly everybody is and how this is a fun place to visit.”
The panelists talked about highlights and challenges facing the industry.
Jamison talked about how the two additional hotels built in Rhinelander have made a major impact, and the need for activities for teams to do between games and restaurants big enough to accommodate them.
Part of the focus was also on the impact local residents play.
Nafziger spoke about occasional disagreements between motorized trail groups and silent sport groups saying they all need to be cautious that doesn’t spill out into the visitor experience.
“I think it's important that we all work together and build each other up,” said Nafziger. “When it comes to trails, local businesses are extremely important.”
McCain said he gets frustrated by the negative comments about visitors to the Northwoods, especially the ones he sees online.
“The people actually pay attention to what's on their screen in front of them, if they're looking at where to go spend their dollars, and if they do the reviews and they see all of this, “Stay home. Stay home. Stay home. Don't bother us.’ We need to be aware that that exists, that negativism exists,” said McCain.
According to the Oneida County Tourism Council, the sales tax collected on visitor direct spending in 2023 was $1,459,500. That accounts for 21% of the total 2023 sales tax collected by Oneida County.
All the panelists spoke about the growth they’ve experienced over the years.
Wildwood Wildlife Park Zoo and Safari has grown from 35 acres and around 70 animals when the Domasek’s first bought it to 269 acres and more than 2,000 animals now.
The Tara Lila trail system has seen a spike in people wanting to get outside since the pandemic.
The Three Lakes Winery now distributes upwards of 200,000 bottles of wine around the state and region each year and is still looking for ways to expand, including building a distillery.
The Hodag Dome sees more demand to host tournaments then they have weekends available.
“We take off our individual destination hats and come together to market the county as a whole. So to be able to bring together people from across the county and hear that that that effort is fruitful is really nice,” said Sharpe.
In 2023, Wisconsin’s tourism industry saw a $25 billion total economic impact, an increase of 5.4 percent from the previous year.
