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Tax funds may help lure tourists to Utah

The 2002 Olympic Winter Games brought top-flight competition and attention to Utah, but tourism officials believe the state now is in a fight with its neighbors to draw skiers and other visitors.

By Brice Wallace
Deseret Morning News

To improve Utah’s chances of claiming the gold in this contest, they want to see a big increase in tourism development spending. And that may require a boost in some taxes.

"We believe that if Utah, particularly on the heels of the Olympics, were to get very, very aggressive . . . that we can gain market share, and that’s really the name of the game," Dean Reeder, director of the Utah Travel Council, told the Legislature’s Workforce Services and Community and Economic Development Interim Committee on Wednesday.

The overall ski industry is flat, he said. "What that means is, it becomes a share fight. People have to compete for the same existing piece of business, and we’ve determined Utah is not well-positioned for a share fight."

Or, to be even more specific, Reeder said, "We’d like to steal share from Colorado, and we think this is the best time to do it."

Utah lags behind neighbors Arizona and Colorado when it comes to advertising spent to attract out-of-state visitors. Including $1 million from the state and amounts from local direct marketing organizations, industry associations and private-sector attractions and companies, Utah musters only $13 million for the effort. Colorado’s total is $55 million, and Arizona’s is $64 million.

Per resident, that’s $6 for Utah, $12 for Arizona and $13 for Colorado.

The travel council is part of the state Department of Community and Economic Development, and the department’s director, David Harmer, has proposed that the state tourism development budget should rise from a projected $4.3 million in fiscal 2004 to more than $20 million.

The money would come from a continuation of general fund allocations and combination of new and existing taxes.

Under one proposal, more than $16 million would be raised for fiscal 2004 through the general fund ($3.9 million), the state’s 2.5 percent car rental fee ($3.3 million), a new 0.25 percent restaurant tax ($6.1 million) and a new 0.5 percent transient room tax ($3.1 million).

The money would be used for more advertising in key markets — including possible TV spots, more prominent print advertising and targeted Internet promotion — plus cooperative efforts with local and regional groups and private-sector businesses.

The result of increased marketing, officials say, is that more than 5 million additional people would be encouraged to visit Utah, and additional visitors would spend $1.4 billion for Utah businesses. That means state tax revenues would rise $81 million and local revenues would increase $28 million — all for fiscal 2005.

Reeder noted that Utah stands to benefit, for example, by advertising tourism to Texans. In meeting with one group of skiers from Texas recently, he found that, to them, Utah is "one big blank."

"We’re not at the top of their minds, we’re not on the bottom of their minds, we’re not in their minds," he said. "The Olympics are long-gone and forgotten."

Some people believe Utah is a good place to visit for skiing but think it’s just a back way to get to Colorado resorts rather than the resorts less than an hour away from Salt Lake’s airport.

"We can make that argument," Reeder said of the close-proximity attraction, "but we’re going to have to pay for that argument."

Kip Pitou, president of Ski Utah, told the committee that Utah’s industry is relatively small when compared to Colorado’s — only 3 million skier-days to Colorado’s 13 million.

"But we are in the position to do a lot more business," he said. "We’re underutilized, but it’s a question of going from those 3 million skier-days we’ve had the last five years to going to 4 or 5 (million)."

Reeder also noted that tourism dollars’ effects on economies are felt fast. "This tourism thing is quick, quick turnaround and very high velocity," he said.

Meanwhile, Colorado has decided to appropriate $9 million more in fiscal 2004, and New Mexico will add $1 million to $2 million to its annual travel development budget.

About 17.5 million out-of-state visitors in 2002 accounted for $4.15 billion in spending in Utah and generated $332 million in state and local tax revenues, Reeder said. Put another way, that amounts to $475 in tax relief per Utah household.

The proposal to increase tourism development spending would bring that amount to $650 per household. "So we get an opportunity . . . to increase the relief of the tax burden from nonresidents with this proposal," Reeder said.

Legislative committee members took no action on the proposal.

E-mail: [email protected]

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,510040368,00.html

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Tourism’s wild side

Arizona visitors watching wildlife bring $1.5 billion a year to economy

Hal Mattern
The Arizona Republic

Watching birds, bighorn sheep, California condors and other wildlife has become big business in Arizona.

Residents and visitors practicing "watchable wildlife" tourism spend more than $800 million a year in the state for an overall economic impact of $1.5 billion, according to a study by the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

"When you think about tourism in Arizona, the Number 1 thing you think about is golf," said Kerry Baldwin, chief of education for Game and Fish. "But this is even bigger than golf."

Watchable wildlife tourism basically involves the non-consumptive use of wildlife. Bird watching is the most popular form of such recreation because Arizona is among the top birding places in the world.

A growing number of companies and communities are offering tours and programs, Baldwin said. Still, he said, the tourism industry has yet to learn how to fully take advantage of the growing niche industry.

FYI
Watching wildlife
Here are the economic effects of wildlife watching in Arizona in 2001:

• 1.47 million participants.

• $820.7 million in retail sales.

• 15,058 jobs.

• $429.4 million in wages and salaries.

• $57.6 million in state tax revenue.

• $1.5 billion total economic impact.

Source: Arizona Game and Fish Department

"There aren’t a lot of watchable wildlife tours in Arizona right now," Baldwin said. "The level of sophistication has to be higher than jeep tours."

He said the Game and Fish Department provides grants to help communities, schools and government agencies develop wildlife watching programs. It has helped Gilbert and Glendale develop birding trails, and it offers public workshops around the state. At the end of this month, it will hold two boat rides on the Colorado River to observe bighorn sheep.

"Our goal is to make people more aware of wildlife and to make them appreciate and protect it," Baldwin said.

Hunting and fishing license fees, lottery and Indian gaming revenue and federal excise taxes on firearm and ammunition sales fund the department. It receives no state general fund money.

The still-developing industry received a boost last week with the formation of the Arizona Watchable Wildlife Tourism Association, whose members include tourism-related businesses, chambers of commerce and governmental agencies.

"Our goal is to promote wildlife watching to Arizona residents as well as people around the country," said Kazz Workizer, president of the new association.

Workizer, who owns Kazzam Nature Center, a wildlife book store in Patagonia, said some companies that offer guide services to hunters now also provide wildlife watching tours.

"Arizona also is on everybody in the world’s Top 10 list for birding," she said. "Some of the major birding tour companies are based in Arizona. This is a growing industry."

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0718tourism18.html

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