Nine delegates representing Seward County tourism partners attended all or parts of the recent Nebraska State Travel Conference in Lincoln. The proximity to Seward County made a wonderful opportunity for the various Seward County Tourism Partners to share in the statewide event-learning and promoting Seward County and the tourism offerings in the area.
Participants from Seward County included Collin Hain, Joanie Brecka, Riley Nutttleman, Lois Kimsey, Sue Imig, Marv Taylor, Mary Meyer, Gerald Meyer and Clark Kolterman.
At the conference, Executive Director John Ricks announced the new 2024 data on tourism showed an increase in lodging revenue of 26.4%, far outpacing the national average of 2.5%. The county lodging revenue for the year was more than $30 million, with visitor spending at a record $4.6 billion, up from $3.5 billion, an increase of 29.4% compared with the national average of 7.5 percent.
Overnight guests in Nebraska nearly doubled to 12.6 million.
The state collected $7,743,988 this last year in lodging tax to help promote Visit Nebraska and awarded $639,646 in grants for tourism efforts across the state. State tourism had a $4.3 million advertising budget last year and with more than 135 articles generated nationally on Visiting Nebraska and Tourism in Nebraska.
The state tourism website had 1.2 million active users and 2.5 million page views last year. The State Tourism Facebook had 7.1 million users, and Nebraska Instagram saw a strong growth, reaching 39 thousand followers.
The State of Nebraska produces a free Travel Guide annually and they were requested from all 50 states and many countries as well. The free guides had 19,467 requests from the state website and were mailed out to the individual who requested it. More than 200,000 Travel Guides are physically shared across Nebraska – featuring about 40 advertisers in the book.
Between May 15 – Sept. 8, 2024, Visit Nebraska staffed 25 paid counselors at 10 centers across the state, promoting tourism, distributing Travel Guides and other area information and encouraging the visitors to “slow down and visit Nebraska!” Over 173,000 travelers visited the official Nebraska Travel Centers this last summer.
This is the 15th year of the Nebraska Passport Program and there were 70 official stops in the program for 2024, plus 15 “bonus” stops, featuring fan favorites. Over 50,000 Nebraska Passports are produced and distributed and 1,083 visited all 70+ stops. The office also created another Holiday Passport program with 10,000 distributed and 275+ prize winners.
John Ricks touched on the new Tourism Campaign, coming in the Spring of 2025 and changes in the Passport Program, along with the 2026 Travel Guide. Continued growth on social media is a strong trend for the state office and many are excited to see the positive steps to shape the new message of Visit Nebraska.
An evening reception and party was Feb. 13 with several awards presented. The Seward Fourth of July Celebration 2024 was a nominee in the category of “Outstanding Community Festival” 2024 but lost to the Gering Gravel National Championship Bike Race, though Seward has won the title 10 times. The Nebraska National Guard Museum was a nominee for “Outstanding Tourism Attraction in Nebraska” for 2024 and lost to The Norfolk Riverfront project.
The Henry Fonda Award – the highest tourism honor for an individual – was presented to Karla Niedan-Streeks of Gering. Past recipients of the award from Seward County included Pat Coldiron – Liberty House and Clark Kolterman – Seward County Director of Tourism.
