1011now.com · Grace McDonald · September 8, 2026
Nebraska travel counselor program ending amid state budget cuts
# Nebraska travel counselor program ending amid state budget cuts
Nebraska’s travel counselor program will end at rest stops across the state after Sept. 14. This decision comes following state budget cuts.
By Grace McDonald
Published: Sep. 8, 2026 at 4:05 PM CDT| Updated: 20 minutes ago
MILFORD and LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - The Nebraska travel counselor program at rest areas across the state will end after Sept. 14, following state budget cuts.
Tourism brings $4.6 billion through the state, making it Nebraska’s third-largest industry. For more than 50 years, travel counselors have helped move that money into Nebraska towns, while watching the industry change.
Clark Kolterman is a Nebraska travel counselor at the Blue River Rest Area Eastbound near Milford.
“We’re still on the front line,” Kolterman said. “We’re the connection. We’re the ones that hand out the passports and the travelers.”
He is one of 19 travel counselors at rest areas across the state, promoting places like Ogallala to Melia Hill. Kolterman said during their work week, counselors are in rest areas Monday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
In July 2026, at the height of travel season, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen issued a memo directing state agencies, boards and commissions to cut spending. The memo said the cuts will hopefully help with an unexpected $307 million payout in income tax refunds and alleviate state budget pressures.
Jenn Gjerde is the executive director of Visit Nebraska.
“We used to staff every single rest stop all across the state and over the years we’ve cut and cut and cut and cut,” Gjerde said. “So we are not staffing them the way that we used to.”
“When we sat down and looked at where we could make some adjustments, a lot of discussion came up around this program and it just feels like the right time now,” Gjerde said. “We can make some great transitions with QR codes and websites. So this is the program that we’re sunsetting now.”
Gjerde said Visit Nebraska has not finalized any plans with the Nebraska Department of Transportation, the organization that owns the rest areas. She said she hopes to increase signage to promote towns.
“So it is sad to see the program go and we hope they’ll still be around and serve on our local visitors committees and still spread the good word of the state of Nebraska,” Gjerde said.
Gjerde said when she joined Visit Nebraska, she researched the history of the program extensively and learned travel counselors were first incorporated in 1972. Gjerde calls the travel counselors “Nebraska cheerleaders.”
“There was a lot of leadership at the time who thought that having that human interaction would get people to stay longer,” Gjerde said. “They thought if you had the best rest areas with the best people in them, they were going to find Nebraska to be the best travel destination.”
Gjerde said the travel industry has changed since the 1970s.
“Less people are using rest stops,” Gjerde said. “That’s one big thing that’s also changed since the 1970s. A lot of our destination organizations like Visit North Platte and Kearney have their own visitor centers now.”
Doris Bowman is a Nebraska travel counselor at the York rest area. She started 13 years ago, excited for a way to keep busy in retirement.
“I’m sorry to see the program end,” Bowman said. “It just seems like it gets in your blood, so when you travel, you just want to promote things.”
Her favorite part is interacting with people as they pass through.
“Well, they say tourism is the third largest industry in Nebraska, so we didn’t get there without promotions, you know, without people doing this for a long time,” Bowman said.
Bowman said the way counselors track visitors has changed.
“We used to count everybody that came in,” Bowman said. “We used to have a little clicker and we counted everybody, but now we just kind of mainly count the people we talk to.”
Bob Sautter was one of the first people to work as a travel counselor. He started in 1973, when the position was called “Vacation Guides.” Sautter worked the summer job for three years, then stayed in the industry as executive director of the York County Visitors Bureau. Twenty-five years after working as a vacation guide, he returned to his position as a Nebraska travel counselor.
“I’m the longest surviving vacation guide,” Sautter joked. “Almost all of us were college students.”
Sautter said the program has changed over the years. When he first worked as a travel counselor, there were two workers on duty. Today, there is only one counselor in the rest areas at a time.
“It’s just it has lost its personal touch,” Sautter said. “And that’s one thing I think we always prided ourselves on.”
“Well, (travel) is a totally different animal right now from what it was,” Sautter said. “Now (the job) is just a reversal. It’s mostly older retired people and very few college kids.”
Sautter recalled a bus tour counselors took together before starting the job.
“We all got together at the very beginning before we started and had a week-long or 10-day bus tour throughout the whole state of Nebraska,” Sautter said. “So everybody got to see parks that most of them had never seen before. And every community that we stopped at put their best foot forward and welcomed us and gave us a lot of information on what we could do to help promote.”
After the program ends, Visit Nebraska will focus on growing its website as more travelers rely on technology.
“A lot of people are using their phones as their resource because they’ve well researched their trip on the Internet before they’ve taken it,” Gjerde said.
Travel counselors will continue promoting their communities until their last day on Sept. 14.
“It’s never over till it’s over,” Kolterman said. “My hope is that maybe somebody else will pick it up. Maybe a different foundation will sponsor it or a different organization will take it on. So we’ll see.”
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