Travel and tourism in Castle Country

By PATSY STODDARD Editor

The Emery County Travel Bureau meets monthly and alternates between Castle Dale and Green River. The budget for 2015 was discussed at the recent meeting. There aren’t any substantial changes between 2014 and 2015 and the bureau is budgeting for $315,000 in revenue. In 2013, the TRT generated $320,000 and that will be exceeded in 2014 with $330,000 projected, but the final numbers won’t be in until the end of the year. Any surpluses in the budget have been saved for special projects. The project this year was the completion of the Buckhorn Information Center.
Money has also been put aside for match money for grants.
Tina Carter, travel bureau employee, has been working on the state park apps. Each state park in the county will have their own app.
Carter reported the restaurant tax funds look better than last year. A grant is being used for a video project. The bureau discussed which travel and trade shows they will attend next year. The bureau discussed a Roger Brooks seminar. He is a professional consultant that will assess your area and look at all the collateral pieces to see what your area has to offer and what you can do better to promote your area.
If the bureau works with multiple counties they may be able to get the price down so he can come evaluate the area. Josh Rowley, council member wondered if the way to go is to advertise and package the area with one focus-one theme.
Michael McCandless, travel bureau chairman said maybe focus on what can you do in Emery County? What does Emery County do best? LaMar Guymon from the audience said tourism is not always popular with our residents. Keith Brady, council member said having an outside consultant come in and give advice might be more easily accepted.
McCandless said there is a lot of interest in our area and it would be important to have an evaluation like this completed. The state is putting a lot of money into promoting the National Parks but Emery County is not part of that campaign. Emery County needs to leverage what they have. They need to let those people visiting the parks know that Emery County is here and just a short trip from any of the national parks.
One of the big problems with promoting the national parks is people fly into Las Vegas and then rent a car and drive up from the south. They don’t come into Salt Lake and then travel through the state to get there. The county needs to work on broadening opportunities to get visitors here. Monument Valley has the same problem. They are working to put together packages to get tour buses to their area.
On film projects there was a visitor from France filming pictograph panels in the area. Members of the Hopi tribe were going to be with him and explain the significance of the pictographs to the tribe.
The University of Utah filmed an independent horror movie in the area.
Jonathan Hunt from the state parks said he attended a meeting on raising the dam at Millsite. They will put a berm around the park, so no camping will be lost at the park. They have had several campers staying at Huntington Lake State Park from the overhaul at the power plant. They are thinking of adding more full-service camping spaces.
Aaron Farmer from Green River and Goblin Valley State Parks reported the field trip with the public lands council went well. The state parks was also involved with two rescues from Ding and Dang canyons where the hikers sustained broken legs. One of the rangers spent 18 hours in the canyon with the victim. The BBC was in Goblin Valley filming for one of their science shows. An ad for the history channel was also filmed in the area.
Carter said Emery County is being used as a pilot county for geocache. There will be five geocaches located in the county. Businesses can put trinkets and coupons for their businesses in the caches; contact Tina Carter to get involved. Millsite State Park, Huntington State Park, Millsite Golf Course, John Wesley Powell Museum, Museum of the San Rafael will be involved. At Goblin Valley State Park you can get the patch for participating. The state will provide the containers for the stashes.
A meeting was held with BLM to make obtaining permits for filming more unified. In Moab, they can get permission for a film event in four days; up here it’s been taking four weeks or longer.
The trails committee is still working on trails. There was a clean-up day at the Goodwater trail and a lot of work was completed there. Work is being done on the Huntington trail. There was a fall bike festival at the Wedge.
The travel bureau will put up a sign at the Buckhorn Information Center.
Carter said the marketing group met and they will focus on the main attractions of the county. The bureau is still looking at a large RV show with vendors right around Easter time to attract the visitors on their way to Moab. The travel bureau will purchase a large tent which can used for other events in the county. They are thinking of an event similar to Quartsite in Arizona. The people who attend Quartsite are always looking at other places to go. In April those people are on the move and coming back from the warmer climates and heading north. The county could work to draw them to Emery County for a stop over. The plan is for April 2016 to be the first event.
Emery County is one of the four pilot communities chosen for a focus on rural tourism. They are conducting inventories of the area to see what opportunities exist for developing tourism. The program also has access to target new sources of money for development. The surveying will be completed by mid-spring next year.
The video company putting together the biking video will come and take pictures of the local businesses to put into the video.
Mark H. Williams, bureau member said there needs to be a bigger sign for Goblin Valley. The sign is too obscure and some people miss it. Farmer said the state parks is working to improve signage at the state parks. This is a problem with state parks, more signage is needed to direct people off the freeways.
At the Olympics upcoming in two years in Brazil, there’s opportunities to market the area. Information can be placed at the United States welcome pavilion. There are people attending from all over the world and it’s a good place for promotion of what’s available in Utah. Cost to participate is $2,500.