December 12, 2024—Casper, Wyoming—The local Natrona County economy – including hotels, stores, restaurants, gas stations, activities and more – received an economic impact of $32.4 million in 2024 from Visit Casper’s Business Development efforts.
“Business development – including meetings, groups, sports and other events – are a key part of our marketing efforts at Visit Casper,” said Cait O’Neal, Sales Project Manager for Visit Casper. “Through the sales and services department, we’re able to bring year-round events to the community and help drive room nights and nonresident spending in all four seasons.”
And while business development efforts contributed more than $32 million to the local economy, the combined efforts of sales and services and marketing resulted in Casper seeing record-breaking lodging tax collections in July, September and October 2024.
Throughout the past year, Visit Casper helped support longtime events, including the College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR), state high school tournaments and the Visit Casper Marathon. Additional events included the Wyoming Nurses Association Conference, the Professional Land Surveyor of Wyoming Fall Technical Session, NJCAA National Basketball Tournament and the Wyoming State Council of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
Looking ahead to 2025, upcoming events include:
- NJCAA Tournament: 1,000 room nights, $1+ million economic impact
- CNFR College National Finals Rodeo: 1,909 room nights, $2.5 million economic impact
- Wyoming High School Activities Association State Tournaments (marching band, volleyball, spirit, wrestling, track, basketball): $24 million economic impact
Casper also has a few new developments that are set to open in 2025, including:
- Wyo Sports Ranch: opening in January 2025, this 131,000-square-foot facility will host sporting events, tournaments, conventions and more
- Hyatt Place Hotel: opening in 2025, 200 new hotel rooms
Visit Casper welcomes groups of various sizes and industries, including sports, associations, government, manufacturing, forestry, mining, transportation, outdoor, hunting and fishing groups and more, with meeting sizes that range from 125-400 people.
Learn more about Visit Casper’s business development efforts, as well as its various marketing efforts, at VisitCasper.com.
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About Visit Casper
Visit Casper is the official destination management organization for Natrona County and is dedicated to enhancing the county’s economic base through tourism. Casper is Wyoming’s second-largest city and is known for world-class fly-fishing on the North Platte River; is the annual host for the College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR); and has been named one of the top mountain towns in the country by Men’s Journal. More information can be found at www.visitcasper.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn or discover images and content with #VisitCasper.