Spread the word: Tourism fund paying dividends to Utah communities.

• Author: Haraldsen, Tom
• Position: Focus

Tourists to Utah often leave as the state's greatest cheerleaders. One view of the state's awe-inspiring redrock formations or one sweet ride down our celebrated slopes turns even the most skeptical into a Utah believer.

The problem is getting new tourists to make that first trip to the Beehive State.

Rural counties and smaller communities have even greater obstacles to overcome in attracting visitors. For that reason, the state created a cooperative marketing program that gives local communities a dollar-for-dollar match on money spent drawing visitors to the state.

"That money is available to nonprofit organizations and has to be used to generate out-of-state visitors," explains Nan Anderson, executive director of Utah's Tourism Industry Coalition. And from all indications, the cooperative marketing fund is doing exactly that--bringing an influx of visitors to all areas of the state.

The Investment

Tourism is important to Utah's economy. It generated more than 110,000 jobs in 2009 (2010 figures were still being determined in April), accounted for more than $6.2 billion in visitor spending and reduced the tax burden on every Utah household by an estimated $703.

"Tourism is such an all-encompassing industry," Anderson says. "It overall proves to be one of the largest employers in the state. Most tourists don't require that we educate their children, or construct additional facilities. In our view, tourism is good for not only generating capital projects that satisfy the tourists (such as road improvements), but also for residents?'

Because of tourism's economic significance, legislators have been more than willing to invest in efforts to promote the state. The year after Utah's successful hosting of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, the Utah Travel Council had a marketing budget of just $900,000. That paltry amount for the entire state for one year was equal to what Vail, Colo. had for marketing its winter season alone. Something had to change.

Three years later, the state legislature approved creation of the Tourism Marketing Fund, designed to attract out-of-state visitors. "There are three facets to it, and all are predicated on taxes generated related to tourism?' explains Anderson.

The bulk of the fund, 70 percent, is earmarked for advertising and marketing for the Utah Office of Tourism (which replaced the travel council). These efforts are probably best identified by the "Life Elevated" campaign highly used in print, broadcast and social...