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Visit Casper director outlines year of audits, new website and strategies to boost shoulder-season tourism
Summary
Annette Pitts, Visit Casper’s new director, told county commissioners her first-year work included financial and contract audits, a planned website/CRM change with an estimated 40% annual savings, new sales tools and resident outreach informing a tourism master plan update.
Annette Pitts, introduced to the Board of County Commissioners as Visit Casper’s new director, gave a year‑in‑review presentation focused on organizational alignment and measurable marketing improvements. Pitts said her first day was Jan. 6 and that she immediately conducted “a comprehensive audit of our financial systems,” vendor agreements and statutory obligations to align the destination marketing organization with Wyoming rules.
Pitts described operational changes she said would reduce costs and improve accountability. She told the commission that changing the website and CRM would “save at least 40% each year” even after one‑time conversion costs, and said the new website was scheduled to debut in December. Pitts also described adding Cvent to the sales team’s toolkit, integrating it with the CRM to capture meeting‑planner leads.
On measurement and research, Pitts said Visit Casper has added media‑attribution capabilities and an industry standard economic impact calculator. She described a resident sentiment effort that combined 364 digital responses with more than 750 handwritten mail responses from mailed surveys aimed at residents 65 and older to ensure local priorities inform the tourism plan.
Pitts highlighted a planning goal to reduce seasonal peaks in visitation and “flatten this curve” by targeting shoulder‑season travel (January–June and September–December). Using Datafy geolocation data and Smith Travel Research hotel reports, she said targeted analysis showed 65% of visitors in a filtered view were from outside Wyoming, a point she used to defend continued lodging‑tax investments.
Pitts also listed recent and proposed uses of destination development funds — including David Street Station, local wayfinding, Indian Relay races, the Health Half Acre project and community education programming — and said the organization had completed its 2024 audit with no findings. She closed by noting Visit Casper’s accreditation and continuing education commitments and invited further questions from commissioners.
