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New Mexico Tourism Department Partners
with Ruidoso’s Billy the Kid Byway Visitor Center

The Village of Ruidoso and the New Mexico Tourism Department have joined forces to help the staff of the Billy the Kid Byway Visitor Center along US 70 in Ruidoso Downs in its promotion of all state-wide attractions and events.

A Memorandum of Understanding, signed April 18, 2008 by Michael Cerletti, Secretary of the Tourism Department, and Village of Ruidoso Mayor Lonnie R. Nunley, creates “a partnership” between the Village and the Tourism Department, whereby the Tourism Department will supply the necessary brochure and magazine racks and displays; provide the brochures, magazines and any other promotional material that is currently available in the nine state-owned centers; and provide the center staff (employed by the Village) with periodic training. These employees, hired by the village, will manage the center, while the Village is charged with building maintenance and providing building and liability insurance.

Although the Billy the Kid Byway Visitor Center is not an official state visitor center (which takes Legislative approval), it does meet certain state-owned center criteria. Most of the nine state Visitor Information Centers are at key entry points around the state, with most of them situated on or near major state highways utilizing Department of Transportation Rest Areas, Property Control buildings and a partnership with one city. Center locations are Anthony, Manuelito, Glenrio, La Bajada, Chama, Lordsburg, Raton, Texico and Santa Fe.

Currently, no state-owned visitor information centers are located in southeastern New Mexico. The closest center to Ruidoso is in Anthony on I-25, south of Las Cruces. A recent study determined that the entire southeastern section of New Mexico is “underserved” regarding the availability of a visitor information center that provides state and region-specific visitor information.

“Our state-owned Visitor Information Centers are very important to our overall mission of welcoming and educating our visitors,” Secretary Cerletti said. “Last year they advised nearly 700,000 visitors, and with the construction of two brand-new centers along Interstate 40 (replacing older centers in Glenrio near the Texas state line and Manuelito near the Arizona state line), every indication is that all centers are only going to get busier in the future. New Mexico is becoming more and more popular as a destination getaway, and with the Billy the Kid byway Visitor Center now augmenting our efforts on a state-wide basis as well as locally, our visitors will be even better informed.”

Visitors come into Ruidoso on US Highways 54, 380, or 70, with the four-lane US 70 a major route from I-25 and I-10 in Las Cruces into Ruidoso and on through to Roswell and Amarillo, Texas. Ruidoso is a major tourism entry point for southern New Mexico, particularly for visitors from Dallas/Fort Worth, Amarillo, and west Texas, as well as the Mexican market. It is estimated that nearly 1.5 million vehicles traveled US 70 in 2006.

In 2006, Ruidoso, collected $21.5 million in lodger’s tax receipts, which was the fourth-highest amount in the state. Only Albuquerque, Las Cruces, and Santa Fe collected more. As a state-designated visitor center, it is anticipated attendance will likely reach 60,000 visitors annually.

Norma Waring, program director, said the Visitor Information Center program’s main objective is to get the traveling public to “slow down while traveling through the state and visit the attractions in the areas near the centers or on their way through the state.”

For more information contact Norma Waring, 505-476-0530.