Visit Casper’s Business Development Efforts Deliver $34.2 Million to Natrona County Economy in 2025

“Meetings, conferences and sports don’t just happen to come to Natrona County,” said Annette Pitts, CEO of Visit Casper. “We have a business development team who works to bring and retain group business to Natrona County, fueling our local economy, filling our hotels and supporting locally owned businesses.”

Visit Casper’s business development sales team – which includes Shelby Kraus, Sports Sales Manager, and Cait O’Neal, Meetings & Conferences Sales Manager – works to bring out-of-area groups to Casper and Natrona County in the form of sports, tournaments, meetings, events and conferences. Those efforts – combined with leisure marketing campaigns led by Wayne Stewart, Visit Casper’s Director of Marketing & Communications – helped bring thousands of visitors to Natrona County to date in 2025.

On the meetings side in 2025, Visit Casper provided support for several conferences and groups, including the Casper Municipal Court Judges & Clerks Conference, Wyoming Mortgage Lender Association, Wyoming Water Association Annual Meeting & Conference, Wyo District United Methodist Church Annual Conference, Wyoming Business Alliance, Happy Trails Tours and Wyoming Stock Growers Association Winter Roundup Convention and Tradeshow.

In terms of athletics, Casper continues to build on its reputation as an ideal sports destination. Big events for 2025 included the NJCAA DI Women’s Basketball Championships, USA Artistic Swimming Team, College National Finals Rodeo, Indian Relay Races, Central Wyoming Fair & Rodeo and the Thanksgiving Tip Off event.

Visit Casper also supported state high school tournaments for 2025 (state marching band, state volleyball, state spirit, state wrestling, state 1A/2A basketball, state 3A/4A basketball, art symposium and state track) and worked with Compete Casper to secure state high school tournaments for 2026-2030. Support was also provided for the Visit Casper Marathon, Special Olympics of Wyoming, Rushmore Hockey Association and more.

In addition, Visit Casper provided 5,316 welcome bags for event attendees at 38 events in 2025. From July through October, 1,409 welcomes bags were provided, with a value of $9,471.46 in just a matter of months.

Looking ahead to 2026, upcoming events include:

Wyo Sports Ranch: Hype Nation Classic, Rumble on the Ranch, JBJ Volleyball in the Basin
Ford Wyoming Center: College National Finals Rodeo
Central Wyoming Fairgrounds: Central Wyoming Fair & Rodeo, Indian Relay Race
Wyoming High School Activities Association State Tournaments: marching band, volleyball, spirit, wrestling, track, basketball
Wyoming Mortgage Lender Association
Wyoming Writers Conference
Wyoming Press Association Convention
Connect2Women Conference
Rulon Gardner Inspirational Speaking Event
Wyoming Airport Coalition Conference
Wyoming Trucking Annual Convention

Casper is also set to welcome the new Hyatt Place Hotel, which will open January 30, 2026. The Hyatt will bring additional meetings offerings and hotel rooms to Casper, with the capacity to host 100+ guests during an event.

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 35 best mountain towns in the U.S. and beyond 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.