Utah Office of Tourism
OVERVIEW U.C.A. 63M-1-1401–1406 Board of Tourism Development The mission of the Utah Office of Tourism (UOT) is to promote Utah’s travel experiences and destinations for out-of-state travelers and to promote tourism-based economic development and quality of life in Utah. 2013 was a milestone year for Utah’s tourism industry, cresting $7.5 billion in traveler spending, which generated $1 billion in state and local tax revenues. To advance these goals, UOT runs year-round marketing, public relations and travel trade programs to inspire domestic and international visitors to come to Utah and to provide trip planning and destination information to help them have an enjoyable vacation. Integral to promoting the state domestically are UOT’s two marketing campaigns. The 3-season campaign targets travelers in western U.S. cities with the compelling story of The Mighty 5® national parks. The winter campaign draws skiers and snowboarders to Utah from LA, Boston and N.Y. to enjoy The Greatest Snow on Earth®. This winter, UOT began development of a new ski campaign focused on helping travelers find their “Greatest” experience in Utah. This new campaign will debut in winter of FY2015. In partnership with the business marketing team, UOT began the process of refreshing the Utah Life Elevated® brand identity and conducting research to better articulate the state’s brand promise and to expand the state brand beyond tourism to resident engagement and business marketing. The project aims to further distinguish Utah from its regional competitors and to better position Utah to attract businesses and to encourage experienced IT professionals to relocate to the state. The domestic public relations program refocused efforts on targeting top media outlets for promoting Utah’s travel opportunities and, through an integrated public relations campaign, secured placement in 37 of the top 50 publications identified by the office. Travel trade efforts focused on increasing the number of Utah trips in tour operators’ product catalogs. The travel trade team accomplished this goal by reinforcing existing programs in the U.K., Germany, France and Canada and by conducting sales missions into two new markets, Australia and China. Based on the success of those sales missions, UOT will be contracting year-round representation in those markets to tap new growth opportunities for Utah’s tourism industry.
Tourism Marketing Performance Fund Allocation UOT’s primary source of funding is the Tourism Marketing Performance Fund (TMPF), which connects the office’s funding to performance goals based Governor’s Office of Economic Development • 2014 Annual Report • www.business.utah.gov
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