At the Utah Tourism Conference at Southern Utah University on Friday, Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. named Leigh von der Esch as director of the new Utah Office of Tourism. An assistant director with the Utah Travel Council, von der Esch takes up her new tourist duties on July 1.

Her top tourist task: Use the combined $18 million state lawmakers appropriated the office for the next two years to tout Utah to tourists. By von der Esch's reckoning, it should be an easy sell.

"We have a lot to brag about - not in an arrogant way, but in telling people what the best of the best is," von der Esch told members of the tourism industry at the Cedar City conference. "Utah should mean something to people."

This Utah Office of Tourism, which is replacing the Utah Travel Council, will use $10 million its $18 million appropriation this year and $4 million the next. The balance of the money is being diverted to pay for the Salt Palace expansion project. The money, which is basically a loan, will be returned to the tourism office later.

Utah's beefed-up tourism budget is a marked improvement. In the past, the Travel Council was awarded a little more than $3 million annually to spend on tourism, and only $900,000 of that went to promotion.

Tracie Cayford, spokeswoman for the state Office of Economic Development, said the Colorado resort community of Vail spends $900,000 each year just to promote its summer season.

Von der Esch urged members of the Utah Tourism Industry Coalition, which number more than 128,000 Utahns, to go through her office to obtain matching grants to pay for magazine ads and other promotions to bring attention to Utah.

Internationally, von der Esch's office will target the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan - places where interest in the Beehive State has traditionally been strong.

Huntsman told the group that the new tourism office, in conjunction with the expansion of the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, will bring an influx of visitors to Utah - first on business to attend conventions, and later as tourists.

"We can't be a tourist crossroads, we have to be a destination of choice," Huntsman said.

The governor is hopeful the tourism office will add another $1.25 billion to the $5 billion in tourist dollars the state already receives each year. He said the extra money will help pay for education, transportation and other state services.

"Promoting tourism is key to what we can accomplish as a state," Huntsman said.