The Utah Office of Tourism board distributed the money Friday from its cooperative marketing fund, which allows the state agency to provide matching grants to local and regional tourism organizations for promotional campaigns.
This was the initial funding cycle for the board, which received $2 million for the cooperative marketing program last session from a Legislature keen to boost the state's tourism industry.
Only $1 million was up for grabs Friday, largely for winter-oriented promotions. The tourism board had decided earlier to set aside the other $1 million until next spring to fund campaigns with summer themes. And, because this process is new, the board held on to $210,000 to give 19 rejected applicants a second chance to strengthen their pitches. Their deadline for doing so is Dec. 1.
Friday's largest single allocation - $112,500 - went to a joint effort by the Park City Chamber & Visitors Bureau and Salt Lake City International Airport to expand ad campaigns into San Diego and Chicago in January.
The Park City Chamber and Salt Lake airport had planned to run television advertisements in Los Angeles that month, touting the proximity of Deer Valley, The Canyons and Park City Mountain Resort to the airport. Those three resorts offer free lift tickets to people who produce boarding passes showing they flew into the Salt Lake airport that day.
With the additional state funding, those ads can be shown in Chicago and San Diego, as well, said Park City Chamber marketing director Cathy Miller. "We looked at the skier populations in each of those markets and figured those were cities we could tap into."
Skiing-oriented projects, naturally, fared well this cycle. The board gave Ski Utah, the marketing arm of the state's 13 resorts, $94,271 to supplement its magazine advertising campaign. The Salt Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau got $75,000 to boost its efforts to lure more skiers to the four Cottonwood canyons' resorts. And Alta Ski Area picked up $5,000.
Other projects received funding, too.
The board allocated $100,000 to organizers of the 2007 Winter Deaflympics, which already are expected to draw competitors from 24 countries. They will use the money to promote those games - and Utah in general - at 30 events next year for deaf people.
Knowing that many Europeans, particularly Germans, are intrigued by the Old West, the American West Heritage Center in Logan will use its $49,592 allotment to try to influence more European bus tours to pass through the Cache Valley.
With the $67,334 it is getting from the state, Garfield County intends to expand its advertisements for Bryce Canyon in AAA-affiliated publications. It also is helping Bryce and Zion National Park with a billboard campaign in Las Vegas.
mikeg@sltrib.com
