As Snowbird's big skiing crowd attested, the Fourth of July was good for Utah's mountain resorts, and good for the hospitality industry.

With the Fourth being a Monday this year, creating a three-day weekend that attracted additional summer vacationers, Utah resorts finished July with a 57.7 percent occupancy rate, 6 percent better than the same month a year earlier, according to the Denver-based Rocky Mountain Lodging Report.

Other Western states did even better. The Mountain Travel Research Program, also out of Denver, reported an 8.2 percent increase at resorts that also include California, Colorado and Oregon.

"Some mountain destinations are approaching summer business that matches pre-recession levels," said director Ralf Garrison, noting the six-month tally for February through July was up 5.1 percent over 2010.

August also is maintaining July's momentum. Reservations are up 7.4 percent from a year earlier, he added.

Garrison was hesitant to get too excited about the future, citing recent market volatility and increased talk of the economy sinking into another recession.

"Our broader market intelligence summary has been usurped by the recent market conditions," he said, adding "the duration and impact of economic fluctuations can't be predicted."

But he and colleague Tom Foley, a research analyst, said that even if the economy slides backward again, the impact is not expected to be nearly as pronounced as it was in 2008, when the Great Recession was peaking.

"The economic situation is much different than it was in October 2008," said Foley. "Recent [stock market] losses pale in comparison to the fallout from the Lehman collapse. While the instability may continue for a while, most experts agree the Dow dropping to 6,000, as it did three years ago, is unlikely. The picture is different this time around and experience is on our side, particularly after the ski industry has weathered the past two years of tough times and uncertainty with relative success."

The ski industry in Utah generated $1.2 billion in business in 2010.

Added Garrison: "With summer business mostly behind us and the active winter booking season not yet in full swing, we're encouraging steadiness, patience and not succumbing to panic."

In Utah, the 6 percent nightly increase in occupancy was undercut by lower rates. The Lodging Report said the nightly rate slipped to $116.63 in July, down 48 cents from a year earlier.

In Salt Lake County, home to about half of Utah's hotel rooms, a 2.8 percent rise in occupancy was accompanied by a $1.25 per night increase in the room rate to $89.78.

St. George also posted good results, a play-through-the-night softball tournament over the July 24 weekend helping to boost occupancy there by 6 percent over July 2010. Continuing a strong year, Logan hotels filled 7.4 percent more rooms last month than a year earlier. For the first seven months of 2011, customer counts are up 8.5 percent at Logan hotels, although nightly room rates are down $1.

Cedar City hotels, which kicked off the start of another Shakespearean Festival season, did not keep pace with July 2010. But it was close, slipping just 1.9 percent year-over-year. Davis County's occupancy decline also was less than 1 percent.

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