Given those ingredients, tourism no doubt fell in southern Utah's Kane County this year, right?

Wrong.

Ted Hallisey, director of the county's Office of Tourism and Film, reports that hotel-tax revenues through August are up 3 percent from the same time last year.

"We could set a record for the year," Hallisey said this week. "Despite all the challenges, it's phenomenal to be over [last year's figures]."

October and November figures will determine if the numbers top last year's record of $348,839. "I'm cautiously optimistic," Hallisey said.

But some restaurant owners and others cannot help but wonder if their sales would have been even heftier without Kanab's natural-family resolution.

In January, the City Council adopted the nonbinding resolution touting marriage between men and women as "ordained of God" and urging young women to become "wives, homemakers and mothers" and young men to become "husbands, home builders and fathers."

Famed travel writer Arthur Frommer called for a boycott of the region. Many gay-rights organizations and other individuals threatened to stay away. Several tour-bus groups even canceled their trips to the scenic red-rock country.

Victor Cooper, owner of Kanab's Rocking V restaurant and art gallery, blames the resolution, at least partly, for the slump at area eateries. The tax numbers may have been good for the motels, he said, "but we've been down."

Marina Johnson, a server at another restaurant, complains she had to work more to stay ahead. "This has been the worst summer in years," she said.

But Steve Browning, manager of Kanab's Parry Lodge, pointed to strong bookings despite a downturn in August.

"Business has been good, better than last year," he said, "and bookings are strong for next year."

Browning acknowledged getting calls about the natural-family resolution but said visitors never mentioned the measure as a reason for canceling a trip.

He noted that the fire that briefly closed the North Rim of Grand Canyon probably boosted business as guests destined for that national park stayed in Kanab instead.

Krista Erickson, manager of Aiken's Lodge, said her Kanab hotel saw no resolution-inspired cancellations - though she did grow concerned when Frommer spoke out.

"I was quite worried about that [Frommer]," Erickson said. "He has a lot of influence, and people listen to him, but I guess it turned out OK."

As for gas costs, Hallisey said they probably did not have much effect. He pointed to studies that show once families decide on a vacation, surging prices at the pump do not deter them.

Kanab Mayor Kim Lawson, who introduced the natural-family resolution, welcomed the latest hotel-tax figures as evidence the council's action did not damage tourism, a vital cog in his city's economy.

"It's a banner year," he said. "We've reached a milestone by eclipsing last year's [figures], and we are grateful for that."

mhavnes@sltrib.com

Natural-family resolution

* In January, Kanab's City Council adopted a natural-family resolution, which touts marriage between men and women as "ordained of God" and conceives homes as "open to a full quiver of children." It also promotes young women becoming "wives, homemakers and mothers" and young men growing into "husbands, home builders and fathers." Since its passage, women's advocates, gay-rights activists and others - inside and outside of Kanab - have decried the nonbinding resolution and even called for a boycott of area businesses.

* For further coverage of the natural-family resolution, please visit http://www.sltrib.com