FRIDAY, September 18, 2026|
Photo – Visitor’s Information booklet – Courtesy Discover Carbon County Wyoming
The Rawlins representative to the Carbon County Visitors Council explained how tourism money is benefitting the county.
During Tuesday evening’s Rawlins City Council meeting, Carbon County Visitors Council member Mary‑Pat Whitfield presented the organization’s regular update to the governing body. Whitfield said the Carbon County Visitors Council, now doing business as Discover Carbon County Wyoming, was established in 1987 through a joint powers agreement between the Board of Carbon County Commissioners and the towns of Baggs, Elk Mountain, Encampment, Hanna, Medicine Bow, Rawlins, Riverside, and Saratoga. Since that time, Whitfield said the Visitors Council has worked to attract tourists to Carbon County while supporting residents.
The state of Wyoming imposes a five percent tax on hotel, motel, campground, and short‑term rental stays. Three percent of the lodging‑tax revenue supports the Wyoming Office of Tourism, while the remaining two percent is returned to the county where the stay occurred. In 1987, Carbon County voters approved an additional two percent lodging tax to promote tourism to the area. The tax has been renewed every four years and will be on the ballot again this November.
At Tuesday’s Rawlins City Council meeting, Mary‑Pat Whitfield explained how lodging taxes, both state and local, benefit the county.
Whitfield said over $227,000 was returned to municipalities where the lodging taxes were collected. She added that the City of Rawlins has received nearly $22,000 in lodging tax revenue since July.
The city’s Visitors Council representative said Discover Carbon County awarded approximately $147,000 in grant funding to support 41 countywide advertising, signage, and community improvement projects last fiscal year.
Whitfield added that lodging‑tax revenue has risen two percent since 2025, with collections more than doubling since 2021, reflecting Carbon County’s rebounding tourism industry following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Whitfield said in 2025, Discover Carbon County collaborated with a wide variety of organizations to produce more than 500 print, online, radio, and TV advertisements promoting the area.
Whitfield said last year, the Discover Carbon office in Rawlins fulfilled over 24,000 visitor information requests from around the world. In addition, the Visitors Council partnered with the U.S. Forest Service to provide staff for the Brush Creek Visitors Center and appeared on behalf of Carbon County at tourism events around the country.
Whitfield said recently, Discover Carbon County has sponsored programs to install wayfinding signs around the county, improve the Continental Divide Trail, and move the Fossil Cabin from the Como Bluffs to the Medicine Bow Museum. She said the organization is working with the Wyoming Department of Transportation on a proposed bicycle path from Rawlins to Walcott Junction. Despite cutting costs by over 80 percent, Whitfield said the project remains financially out of reach.
Whitfield said the Visitors Council also partnered with the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office to establish the Eastern Wyoming Avalanche Information Exchange.
In conclusion, Mary-Pat Whitfield said residents rarely pay the lodging tax, but every community benefits from the revenue it provides.
Following the presentation, Discover Carbon County Executive Director Leslie Jefferson thanked the Rawlins City Council for appointing Whitfield to the Visitors Council.
