Travel bureau welcomes Hunt to board

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Emery County travel bureau met in Castle Dale to take care of the business involving tourism in the county. The newest member of the bureau is Jonathan Hunt he is the new park manager for Utah State Parks Huntington, Millsite and Scofield.
Board chairman Mike McCandless said in the state’s tourism budget they allocate 20 percent to a grant program and local travel bureaus or organizations can apply for this money. The main focus of the money is to draw out of state tourists to Utah. Last week ads went out nationwide advertising the five National Parks in the state. Emery County Travel Bureau used this grant money to fund advertising on Delta Airlines and they are thinking of doing this again and considering other projects.
One project suggested by Taina Benson was putting advertising on city buses. She has seen a lot of this in California.
McCandless said Moab has been very aggressive in advertising out of the country and has been very successful with visitors from foreign countries coming to Moab. One project will be billboards in adjacent states. Social media development will be a focus, too.
Board member Kelly Bayles said he is interested in developing ways to get people off the freeway and into the town of Green River and to the museum, restaurants and motels. McCandless reported research indicates billboards are most effective within five miles of a town. Moab is adding new rooms at the Holiday Inn, 60 rooms. Green River used to receive overflow from Moab, but that will be less likely if Moab has the rooms available.
The board approved a funding request for the working ranch 4-H competition. The event takes place the end of September and will bring participants into the county.
The representative from GoUtah.com came to the meeting to invite the travel bureau to renew their contract for another year. This website advertises for Emery County and leads people to the San Rafael Country.com website. He said 95 percent of the people requesting information are from out of state. The visitors to the site give their information so Tina Carter can send them information. The renewal for one year is $2,295.
A film will be shot in the county in September or October and also half the filming will take place in Carbon County. The movie will involve coal mining, adventure and scary parts. An Animal Planet segment will also be filmed in the county.
State parks would like to see an expansion of the campground at Goblin Valley. Things are good at the Green River golf course and they have some new sets of rental clubs.
Work will begin soon on the biking/walking trail from Huntington State Park to Huntington. There is also talk of a trail from Green River to the Crystal Geyser. The travel bureau is still thinking of purchasing TVs to play Emery County videos in local restaurants and motels.
The board talked about the travel shows they had been to during the winter and early spring. One idea that came up was having a consumer show in Emery County. The board will think of a theme for the show. Spring or fall would be the best time for a show.