Emery County Travel Bureau receives funds

The Utah Board of Tourism Development, part of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, is allocating more than $3.4 million in cooperative marketing matching funds to help communities throughout Utah promote their areas to out-of-state travelers.
“The cooperative marketing program is a successful tool for growing Utah’s tourism economy. These are locally-led initiatives matched by state dollars to fund diverse marketing initiatives,”  said Vicki Varela, Managing Director, Utah Office of Tourism and Film. Cooperative marketing, known as “the co-op” within the tourism industry, pairs with the Office of Tourism marketing and branding campaigns to build a robust tourism economy. Last year, visitors spent $8.17 billion in Utah, generating $1.15 billion in state and local tax revenues.
Co-op awards will be used to promote a huge range of state recreation, culture and scenic byway treasures.  Examples include Utah’s Patchwork Parkway scenic byway,  Utah’s vibrant urban capital city and The Greatest Snow on Earth®.
A key strategy of the Utah Office of Tourism is to distribute visitors off the beaten path. This builds the economy in areas that have capacity, creates a quality experience for visitors and protects quality of life for residents. The balance is especially important in the Moab and St. George/Springdale areas, where Arches and Zion national parks are receiving record visitation. To that end, 76 percent of co-op grants went to communities without a national park.
Utah tourism marketing is funded through the Tourism Marketing Performance Fund.  The fund can be increased by up to $3 million per year if rigorous performance measures are met. Performance measures have been met every year for the last five years, and the Legislature has funded increases in four of the last five years, bringing the total fund to $21 million.
Some $4.4 million in applications met rigorous performance measures to qualify for co-op funds.  With $3.4 million available to allocate, the tourism board had to make difficult choices.  Applicants received 70 to 85 percent of their total requests, despite return on investment calculations demonstrating a larger allocation could have generated more revenues for regional economies. The tourism board’s co-op committee meticulously reviewed and scored 68 applications from eligible non-profits in 21 of Utah’s 29 counties.  Funds are fully distributed only after Return on Investment reports are submitted.
In addition to co-op grants for local marketing initiatives, the board allocated about $850,000 in cafeteria co-ops, which will assist local communities build tourism websites, generate photos of their areas, execute social media and other key initiatives.  Collectively, 27 of Utah’s 29 counties received a traditional or cafeteria co-op grant.
The Emery County Travel Bureau received $7,400 for a Digital Campaign. They received $22,320 for Website development.
For Branding and Marketing they received $58,400.