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Visit Casper director outlines marketing overhaul, new website and data tools to broaden tourism season
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Summary
Annette Pitts, Visit Casper’s new director, told Natrona County commissioners the organization completed a yearlong audit of contracts and operations, is deploying a new website and CRM, and is using geolocation and media‑attribution tools to convert day visitors into overnight lodging stays.
Annette Pitts, introduced to the Board as Visit Casper’s new director, gave commissioners a year‑in‑review presentation focused on organizational auditing, contract reviews, new technology and destination development priorities.
Pitts said her first priorities were a comprehensive financial and contractual audit and a 90‑day onboarding plan for the board. She described operational changes completed over four quarters, including vendor reviews and the decision to retain existing staff while shifting some tasks to outside vendors. "We did not find that we needed to change our staffing level," she said.
Pitts said Visit Casper has rolled out a new CRM and will debut a redesigned website "in just a few weeks in December," and that the organization is publishing a monthly industry scorecard so the county can track performance. She described new sales tools, including using Cvent to match facilities with meeting planners and adding media‑attribution capacity so Visit Casper can track where visitors came from after seeing ads.
On visitation data, Pitts said Visit Casper uses a geolocation dataset (Datafy) together with Smith Travel Research hotel occupancy reports to validate opportunities. "When you look at who all came to Casper, 65% were travelers from outside of Wyoming," she said, noting this figure counters the idea that tourism funding only benefits in‑state visitors.
Pitts listed destination development fund recommendations that were sent to the Visit Casper board, including allocations to David Street Station, city wayfinding and community education programs. She also said Visit Casper completed its 2024 audit with no findings and has started an update of the countywide tourism master plan.
The commissioners asked questions about shoulder‑season strategies and whether the new tools can identify specific event drivers. Pitts said staff combine geolocation with daily event and sponsorship calendars to identify which specific days produced higher visitation and then look for target markets to fill slow months.
The presentation closed with commissioners thanking Pitts and staff for the work, and noting coordination with the Wyoming Office of Tourism and upcoming conferences where commissioners and staff may participate.
The meeting moved on to other agenda items after the presentation.
