Travel and tourism.

• Position: Industry Outlook - Interview

Though economic times are tough, Utah's travel and tourism leaders say the state is still seeing its fair share of tourists coming in from all corners of the world--from France to Japan to Utah's own residents. Our panel of experts discussed some of the issues and trends the industry is facing, including corporate retreat cutbacks, decreased funding, marketing efforts and liquor law changes. And though the industry is experiencing some setbacks, cooperation efforts among the industry's varied leaders are keeping the state's travel and tourism industry moving toward success.

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How would you describe the current state of Utah's travel and tourism industry?

RACKER: There is definitely a slowing, but it's interesting to see that things are still moving. I was at the New York Times travel show and then I went to the LA Times show, and you would never know that things are slowing. We were running out of brochures by the end of the first day. We joked and said, "Maybe people are just getting brochures to look at so they can imagine traveling."

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There is still a desire to travel, and we know that our industry often in economic downturns can feel the pinch because of people cutting back on that discretionary spending. But for right now, we are finding that people are getting out there and traveling--we just hope it continues. We know from tax receipts and hotel occupancies that [travel] is down some, but we are cautiously optimistic.

LINDBURG: I think we have a little bit of a self fulfilling prophecy in many respects. Certainly the economy is down and it is a fact that corporations are cutting back on travel because it's a quick way to respond to an economic downturn. But, there is still a desire for travel and there always will be. I think people feel like travel is a benefit or a facet of life that is almost owed to them. So, we're going to continue to see people traveling, but they are being much more sensitive to price.

As an industry, we are trying to not erode our rates, but we're trying to find ways of adding value or positioning our product so that people have a comfort with buying. Things are soft, but it's part of the cycle and we are currently on the downward side. The other side is that there is always that upward curve that will come afterwards. If we focus on that, we're going to be just fine as we work through it.

HILLIARD: [The Davis Conference Center] is a smaller conference center, but we are feeling the slowing. People are still coming, they are just being slower to make the commitment and they are spending down. They are being more careful in how many days they are spending, how much money they are spending.

RAFFERTY: One of the nice things about Utah is if you are a skier and come here on vacation there are all sorts of variations. Utah has Deer Valley on one end of the spectrum and Alta on another--two areas that are tops in their own separate categories. We are seeing many different things. If you look at the business we've had certain weekends, you would not think there was a recession. Our clientele are enthusiasts, and they are going to follow the snow. We have the best snow in North America right now, so things are looking pretty good. But, we're also coming off five years of record seasons and, you know, if you win the Super Bowl every year for five years and you lose by three points in the last quarter and you end up in second place, it seems like a big letdown sometimes. But, I'm still really optimistic. At the end of the day, we are going to do better than we thought we were coming into the season.

MALONE: So far this winter, we are probably tracking somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to 15 percent off of our numbers from last year from a visitation standpoint in terms of overnight visitors. I think the real challenge is that everyone is extremely price sensitive. People are booking really close in, so it's hard to get a picture of the future. Everybody knows there are deals out there and everybody is asking for deals. And there are all sorts of deals--you can find anything from "buy three nights, get the fourth night free," to "buy one night, get the second night free."

So while we may be down 10 to 15 percent in occupancy, we are going to be down significantly more than that in revenue as a community, mainly because the biggest chunk of the revenue spent on someone's ski vacation is lodging. Lodging is, in fact, being discounted anywhere between 25 and 50 percent. So it will be a challenge for us, because we are going to have fewer dollars to market with next year.

Is that a trend that is happening across the state--that people are waiting until the last minute to book their lodgings in order to get the best deal?

RAFFERTY: If there was one trend of the whole year, it would be short-term booking. So, you can take your pacing reports from the last five or 10 years and just pitch them out the window because you just don't know until a few days before what your number is going to be.

BECK: Not only that, but I think it's kind of "A Tale of Two Cities." What we are seeing in the big box convention business is that there are people shopping. There are people buying. We have come off of our second biggest year in the 25 years of our bureau in 2008. And that wasn't just the first six months. The last six months were also very, very busy. People are recognizing that there are deals to be had, so they are shopping now and securing those dates in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. It is a trend that I think bodes well for an area like Salt Lake, specifically because we have the infrastructure and we have the large big box convention business. Utah has been perceived as conservative from a value perspective, and that is actually boding pretty well for us right now that we are getting people to engage.

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But again, it's a tale of two cities. We have the big, long range bookings, but then the short range corporate bookings--the trend is very, very last minute. And the corporate market is where we are seeing the biggest hit--corporate travel in the hotels, corporate meetings--that is where the big gap is.

MALONE: In Park City, we are being affected on the incentive travel side. With companies that are part of the recovery program and getting federal dollars, they are pulling back in terms of luxurious meetings. And, it's a challenge for some of our properties that have built those relationships with the AIGs and other companies--those properties have had to watch that business go away this year.

REARDON: [Deer Valley Resort] doesn't own or operate any lodging, so the discounting is not affecting us as much as it is some of our partners. But the 10, 15 percent down range is certainly where we are on our skier visitation. However, we're coming off five or six years of record growth, so you take the good with the bad.

Our business philosophy right now is maybe a little different than others in that we are not cutting back on staffing or servicing. We are cementing our brand right now. We want to make sure that we keep providing that level of service and the vacation experience that people expect. And it's going to be a hit to us, but we feel like in the long run it's going to pay off because we are not eroding our brand by doing something differently than we have in the past.

ROBERTS: Christopherson Travel mainly represents business, but some of that is in bound and a lot out bound, so our numbers are softer for most customers. We...