We are here because we love our beautiful state of Utah. And we’re not alone. It is consistently a sought after destination, which presents opportunities and challenges. As a part of UTIA, it is our unique position to be an active voice to advocate for the benefits of the visitor economy and to protect the funding that enables us to do our jobs and serve our local communities.
UTIA’s mission: The collective voice of Utah’s tourism industry. We advocate and educate to enhance Utah’s economy and quality of life.
Each of our communities have their distinctive attractions, opportunities, and challenges. But we know this - we are stronger working together than we are alone. As a board, we see the importance, now more than ever, to unify our message across the state, while also being customized for the individual needs of each industry partner.
To that end, we have curated this toolkit specifically for you. Not all the resources will be relevant in your community. Use what will help you succeed in your role.
Our vision for this toolkit:
• We have a unified (and therefore powerful) voice to legislators to advance the benefits of the visitor economy
• We engage more meaningfully with our residents to lead public sentiment and support
• We advance the economy and quality of life for our communities and state by advocating, defending, and protecting the visitor economy
We believe that together, we can protect the Utah we know and love and leverage the tremendous benefits we derive from the visitor economy. We see a bright future for ourselves and our beautiful state.
UTIA Executive Committee
Executive Director
Celina Sinclair
President
Breck Dockstader, Cliffrose Development
Vice President
Chris Eggleton, Newpark Resort & Hotel
Secretary / Treasurer
Lesha Coltharp, Uintah County Travel & Tourism
Past President
Joan Hammer, Box Elder County Tourism
Quick link to all the toolkit documents on Google Drive - here.
"The shortest distance between two people is a story"
- Patti Digh
What to say
Statewide talking points
To be effective as a voice for our communities and the benefits of the visitor economy, we need to have a unified message. This can be customized for each community while staying true to the overall statewide message. The overarching theme of our story is:
My life, my community, and our state is better because of the visitor economy
In addition, there are a few pivots to how we want to talk about things moving forward:
Visitor Economy vs. Tourism. Tourists are "other" - an outsider. Visitor is someone we welcome. When we cross a county line or invite our family for a reunion, we are part of the visitor economy. We therefore will use "Visitor Economy" to describe our efforts.
Tangible benefits vs. tax offset. In the past, the focus has been on the tax offset that tourism provides residents. We believe that instead the focus should now be on the tangible community amenities that residents get to keep and enjoy.
See "How to Say It” Section and the Community Impact Guide, Step 3
Examples from Weber County:
The Tourism Tax Advisory Board (TTAB) grant was awarded to the Triple Crown Sport in which they used the money to purchase new fencing and baseball mounds for their tournament. There assets were then left at the fields for local recreation teams to use.
The conference center which is funded by tourism tax dollars (TRT & TRCCA). It hosts meetings and conferences, but also numerous community non-profit fundraisers and local events.
How to say it
A unified message also needs to be customized for each community. What is relevant in Park City may not be in Kane County and vice versa.
Community Impact Guide
Here is a guide on how to calculate the visitor economy impact in your community. You can download the worksheet to enter your own numbers - here.
Building your Community Impact Guide
Step 1: Understand how TRT works. The Tourism Industry generates two key funding mechanisms that support reinvestments into the visitor economy:
Tourism, Recreation, Cultural Convention, and Airport Tax (TRCCA)
Step 2: Determine amount of tax your county collected from the visitor economy.
IF you are a county employee - As a DMO and upon approval of your county administrator, you can request a SODA report from the state tax commission outlining all the TRT and TRCCA collected. Should you need support, contact Jeanette Woodhouse with the state tax commission: [email protected] - 801-419-3523.
Additional economic impact can be found in the Kem C Gardner Travel + Tourism County Profile reports -here
UOT Dashboard - will show how much tax was collected in your county - here.
There are 11 pages in the data visualizer. Click at the top to scroll through the various pages.
Navigate to page 3 to find Utah TRT. Select "Location" (counties listed at the bottom of the list) to see TRT by specific area.
Step 3: Compile a few highlights around how the dollars are being used locally. Think about highlighting efforts that would be of most interest to residents and support their quality of life.
Local County TRT investments
Tourism Promotion - Any activity to develop, encourage, solicit, or market tourism that attracts transient guests to the county, including planning, product development, and advertising. Consider if any of these efforts also support local community members? Businesses?
The building, payment, and support of local convention rooms, visitor information centers, museums, or sports and recreation facilities. How do community members benefit from this resource?
If a 4th-6th class county you can also include:
Visitor Management
Solid waste disposal
Emergency medical services, search and rescue, law enforcement
Road repair for class B through D roads.
Local TRCCA investments
Tourism promotion efforts
Efforts around the development, operation, and maintenance of airport, convention, cultural, recreation, and tourist facilities
State TRT investments
Visit Statewide TRT map outlining all the outdoor recreation infrastructure investments. Select your county and choose from the projects listed. Which are most enjoyed, visible, and or celebrated in your community?
Additional grant and project details can be found here
Step 4: Review spending in your county by visitor and resident. This can be found at the Zartico report -here:
Visitor vs resident spending comparisons from tourism industry sectors: restaurant, retail, attractions, amenities, etc.
Brief explanation of how Zartico generates the data - here
This information can be used to highlight the economic impact of visitors on local businesses. For example, if 67% of restaurant customers come from out of the county, how many actual dining establishments and jobs could your community support without the visitor economy?
Step 5: Find allies. Explore getting quotes from people in your community.
Residents: Ask about the projects. What do you love about X project? How is your life / your family better because of this? How does it make our community a better place?
Businesses: Ask about county promotional investments. Discuss how the visitor economy, helps support the business which is also an asset to locals (ex local restaurant). How would their business be impacted if there were no visitors to the county?
Putting it all together
Now that you have a few projects selected that were primarily funded by TRT and/or TRCCA, the next step is to share that information with your community.
Here’s an example of one DMO with a community member quote and key visitor economy stat included:
“My boys and I love riding the XYZ trail. It’s great to have places like this in Ogden to go and have fun that the entire family can enjoy.” - Shannon B. And it was funded 87% by the visitor economy. That convention, family reunion, staycation, business lunch visitor came and left, but their money stays here in our community and is invested in projects like this that we get to enjoy for years to come.
Or showcase how this project impacts your community:
The XYZ trail was built in 2019 and encompasses 12 miles of biking trails. It's one of our county's most used outdoor recreation sites. Since the grand opening, there’s been an estimated 200,000 rides along it. This project was funded 87% by the visitor economy. That convention, family reunion, staycation, business lunch visitor came and left, but their money stays here in our community and is invested in projects like this that we get to enjoy for years to come.
Another angle is to highlight the fact that without the visitor economy, our community would not have this amenity.
Sample Messages
Here are some examples of possible messaging that is supported by local data. Click on the ad to download editable Adobe Illustrator files for each layout.
Here are some examples of how your peers communicate the message:
Davis County: HERE are a few examples of the documents they share with stakeholders.
Economic Impact number for our tourism facilities
Year end report
Hotelier and Industry Partner Newsletters
Tourism Tax Advisory Board and community presentations.
Business Owner letter to the editor template - here
Leverage Tourism Works
The Tourism Works (TW) logo is our industry’s collective brand. Use the TW Partner Logo resource to customize the TW logo for your county, region, or business and ensure it is incorporated into various projects that are associated with and/or have been funded by tourism dollars.
For example:
If your community has a grant program for events, make sure that all the events include this logo in their marketing materials.
If a trail was built utilizing statewide TRT dollars, include this logo on the trailhead signage
If a convention center is funding by county restaurant tax dollars, have the convention center include this logo on their website, outreach materials, etc.
If you are a tourism business, incorporate it into your website, brochures, etc.
Every community has different ways to get the message out. Here are some recommended by your peers:
Beaver:
Deck for engagement and facilitating quality conversations across groups - here
Kane County:
Present annually at our Raising Kane Business Summit, which is in January.
Host one of the Chamber luncheons annually, usually in July and provide lunch and the Kanab Center for free and we present.
Present at the Interagency Council meetings (a lot of public lands, law enforcement type reps there).
Community-facing FB page, “Kane County Office of Tourism.”
Create a Tourism Toolkit that I shared with our last commission with all sorts of info that they could have at their fingertips - here
San Juan County:
Host the annual Business Basecamp and Expo in November.
Economic Development Facebook page
Publish press releases
Work with the San Juan Record Newspaper and the Red Rock Radio Station
Meet with the Chapters, and send communication to the Chapters
Update the San Juan County website
Present at Commission meetings
Publish an annual Newsletter.
Work closely with the SEUALG office - regional Association of Governments group
Grand County:
Run our annual summit (formerly Moab Business Summit, then Canyonlands Business Summit, now the Grand Summit) in which we do stakeholder engagement
Local Chamber of Commerce and TTAB board.
Underwrite programming and put out PSAs on our local community radio station KZMU
Place advertisements in our local newspapers the Time's Independent and Sun News.
Develop good relationships with our local journalists to ensure accurate and forthcoming coverage on relevant issues.
Additional suggestions for how you can meet residents, policymakers, etc:
Attend city council, county commission, planning and zoning, county economic development, and other community meetings. It is important to have a relationship with these board members and leaders.
Offer to provide education on the industry to these groups
Be consistent - set a regular cadence for attendance and opportunities to present
You are the expert in your field
If you are a local business partner with your county DMO, if you are DMO bring a local business owner
Geofencing specific groups with targeted messaging
Who to say it to
There are multiple audiences for our message. The hierarchy of importance will shift based on your unique community needs. Some of these main audiences are:
Residents
Policymakers
County Commission/Council
City Council
State Legislators
When to say it
Now that we know what to say, how to say it, and where to say it, we need to know when best to share it. The answer: consistently.
Even if you have the best story, it won't stick unless they hear it frequently enough.
We can illustrate this with the Curve of Forgetting (see below) - by 16 days after your audience hears your message, they have already forgotten 95%.
The antidote to the Curve of Forgetting is the curve of remembering. With repetition, we build recognition and adoption. Coming at this from multiple angles throughout the community will strengthen the argument.
