CASE STUDY
Cheyenne Tourism Master Plan
Visit Cheyenne engaged Rudloff Solutions in 2021 to create a Cheyenne Tourism Master Plan. Working together, Visit Cheyenne and Rudloff Solutions devised a unique methodology that reviewed existing plans from community stakeholders, extracted common strategic issues, and then tested them in greater detail with interviews and resident/visitor surveys. This streamlined approach efficiently identified actionable pillars and created community support from the start.
Upon completion of the plan in June, Visit Cheyenne and its partners immediately began implementing key components. (Click here for the plan.)
First, Visit Cheyenne tackled Goal #1 - Visitor Experiences by hiring an events coordinator to create new events such as a rodeo series, an Old West Christmas, and a farm-to-table celebration. In addition, Visit Cheyenne is working with the City of Cheyenne and community partners to plan a new railroad attraction, one of the top recommendations of the plan. The City of Cheyenne contracted with Visit Cheyenne to spearhead this effort which is now in the planning and fundraising phases. (The project was just awarded a $700,000 grant from the Economic Development Administration.) Finally, the City of Cheyenne created an Urban Renewal District to redevelop a major blighted property noted in the plan.
To help implement Goal #2 - Downtown Development, Visit Cheyenne merged with Cheyenne’s Downtown Development Authority, creating greater efficiencies and coordination.
For Goal 3 - Outdoor Recreation, the City once again has tasked Visit Cheyenne with leading efforts to locate funding and begin implementation steps to provide recreational options on a City-owned, but currently inaccessible, ranch. Visit Cheyenne and the City are currently applying for a grant for trailhead construction.
The plan’s final Goal – Travel Industry Infrastructure included the need for additional funding for community projects. In response, community partners promoted an optional sales tax election in late 2021 which voters passed to provide funding for over $120 million in improvements. These included several projects discussed in the master plan such as community air service, downtown improvement funding, and expansion of the Cheyenne Greenway trail system.
The Cheyenne Tourism Master Plan is truly a guidebook for moving Cheyenne’s hospitality industry and entire community forward in a unified fashion. Within one year of completing the Master Plan, Visit Cheyenne and the broader community have made significant progress on many of the plan’s major planks.
The Master Plan Steering Committee periodically communicates via email and will soon meet to review progress and update strategies based upon the accomplishments and changing conditions. (June 2022)
