On the map: visitors from across the globe discover Utah.

• Author: Mischel, Marie
• Position: Business Trends

Global economic trends are tourist demographics in Utah, bringing visitors with a myriad of interests and expectations. The state's resorts and tourist destinations are looking for new ways to target these markets and attract visitors from places like China, Russia and Brazil.

"International visitation is up," says Leigh von der Esch, managing director of the Utah Office of Tourism and Film. Her office works with VisaVue Travel to track spending on the state. The latest reports show that Utah's international visitors are led by Canadians, followed by the French, Australians and Germans. Rounding out the top 10 are those from the United Kingdom, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Italy and Switzerland, she says.

She notes that this data is solely from Visa spending--the Office of Tourism doesn't have access to data from other travel cards. "Our partners down at Temple Square tell us that Korean and Chinese visitors are clearly on the rise and, judging from the number of buses we are seeing at Council Hall each week, I would expect these numbers to continue to increase

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A slightly different mix of nationalities is seen on the ski slopes, according to Bill Malone, Park City Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau president and CEO.

"Most of our international visitation at this point comes in the winter in Park City. Our top market this last year was Australia, followed by the UK, closely followed by Brazil, Mexico and Germany," Malone says. "For years the UK was our No i market, but these last couple of years Australia has really come on strong."

The chamber measures the visitors by a joint lift ticket product for Park City Resort, Deer Valley and the Canyons that they sell to international tour operators and travel agents, he says.

Summer visitors to Park City tend to be from the Four Corners region or California, Malone says. "We really don't see much in the way of international business in the summertime. The international guests who come to Utah in summer are very focused on the national parks."

Utah has five national parks, as well as easy access to two others, including the Grand Canyon. While the overall number of visitors to the national parks is fairly stable, there "seems to be a slight drop in some European countries, and seems to be an increase in some Asian countries, specifically China and Korea," says Denis Davis, Utah state coordinator for the National Park Service. "It's something that's been happening for some...