Ski Utah will get the most state assistance — $233,000 — to help attract out-of-state visitors to the slopes of the state’s 14 active mountain resorts next winter.
Discovery Gateway in Salt Lake City will receive the smallest allocation — $1,650 — to advertise itself on the Visit Salt Lake website, figuring that’s the first place out-of-towners check when they’re looking for things to do while they’re here.
On average, the 66 projects recently awarded $3.4 million in cooperative marketing funds by the Utah Board of Tourism Development will get nearly $52,000 to boost regional or national awareness of their local attraction.
“The cooperative marketing program is a successful tool for growing Utah’s tourism economy,” said Vicki Varela, managing director of the Utah Office of Tourism and Film. “These are locally led initiatives matched by state dollars to fund diverse marketing initiatives.”
This year’s funding total was similar to last year’s amount, said tourism office spokeswoman Emily Moench, noting that the state marketing fund now has distributed $29.7 million to local tourism groups since 2005.
Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune Snowboarders and skiers make their way to the Moonbeam lift at Solitude Resort in Salt Lake City, Monday, February 15, 2016.
Throughout that period, the Tourism Board has looked favorably upon requests for cooperative marketing funds from Ski Utah, the marketing arm of the state’s $1.1 billion ski industry, since its sophisticated advertising campaigns help bring many tourists and their dollars to the state.
But, as Varela noted, her office is eager to “distribute visitors off the beaten path. This builds the economy in areas that have capacity, creates a quality experience for visitors and protects quality of life for residents.”
The average grant of $52,000, for example, comes close to matching the money awarded to the Beaver County Travel Council and to the Emery County Travel Bureau for a branding and marketing campaign.
Jessica Miller | The Salt Lake Tribune Corona Arch trail in Moab, Utah.
While Ski Utah received the largest individual sum, Moab collected almost as much — $225,000 — in funding for three separate projects. The bulk went to the Moab Area Travel Council for advertising, but the Moab Folk Festival and the Moab Music Festival each got about $7,500 to underwrite their performances.
The St. George Convention & Tourism Office succeeded in securing six matching grants from the state board. That money will go for projects promoting skywatching, winter visitation and the needs of German tourists.
Tooele County also fared well, taking in $200,000 for a branding campaign, a country-music fan festival and the Ford Performance Racing School, which operates at the Utah Motorsports Campus in Grantsville.
Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Miller Motorsports Park.
Varela said applicants had sought $4.4 million in cooperative marketing funds, with most getting 70 percent to 85 percent of their requests. Eligible nonprofit groups in 21 of Utah’s 29 counties received funding.
Noting that 16 percent of Discovery Gateway’s visitors come from outside Utah, Executive Director Laurie Hopkins said the “excellent reach” of Visit Salt Lake’s website helps the children’s museum attract people “who want to take a break from skiing or bring their families along for a convention.”
Besides Discovery Gateway, some of the smaller distributions went to:
• Utah’s Patchwork Parkway ($1,892), the stretch of State Route 143 between Panguitch and Parowan;
• Wasatch Western Heritage ($2,751), which promotes the cowboy way of life, largely in the Heber Valley;
• The Heber Valley Historic Railroad ($3,300); and
• The Ogden Friends of Acoustic Music ($3,500).
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