The world discovers the beehive state.

• Author: Sutherland, Spencer
• Position: Business BOOM

In the dark of a London movie theater, an audience sits on the edge of their seats as the film 127 Hours comes to its climax. Everyone knows what is going to happen, but it's still hard to believe that it really will. Even in the face of certain agonizing death, could Aron Ralston really cut off his own arm with a dull pocket knife to free himself from the boulder pinning him to the side of Blue John canyon? Though many watch the gruesome scene with hands over their eyes, the fact remains the same: he did it. And lived to tell about it.

"Lance Armstrong wrote a book called It's Not About the Bike," says Leigh von der Esch, managing director of the Utah Office of Tourism and Film. "This movie is not about the arm. It's about a young man thinking through a very difficult situation and determining that he wanted to live"

Likewise, the international marketing campaign that von der Esch's tourism team developed around the film wasn't about the movie, it was about the state where it was filmed. The tourism department worked with its partners throughout Utah, asking each to develop "127 Hours in Utah"--a travel itinerary filled with 127 hours of entertainment in their area.

At the closing night of the London Film Festival, the tourism department hosted a giveaway for a free 127-hour trip to the Beehive State. The response was phenomenal, with more than 30,000 people entering the online drawing.

"We had people come from France, England, and Germany, who then blogged their trips," von der Esch says of the winners. "It has continued to push the message of the beauty of Utah."

Though the Office of Tourism struck a bit of luck with the release of the Academy Award-nominated film, the marketing campaign was just another example of its tireless efforts to make the most of any opportunity to promote the state. Its track record speaks for itself, with the number of visitors to Utah increasing more than 75 percent over the past 25 years. More impressive, visitor spending has jumped more than 200 hundred percent in that same period.

"Tourism is a more than $6 billion industry to the Utah economy. We have about 20 million visitors to the state each year" von der Eseh says. "The state and local taxes that tourists pay end up being about $784 in tax relief per household. If those dollars...