Blog Post

By: Juliette Tennert, M.A.

Our annual State of Utah’s Travel and Tourism Industry report is now available.  The report details the important role that this industry plays in Utah’s economy.

Utah has a competitive advantage that includes vast and unique natural, cultural, and historical assets.  People from across the globe travel to Utah to visit our 14 ski resorts, five national parks, seven national monuments, two national recreation areas, one historic site, and 43 state parks.  They also come to attend business meetings, conventions, tradeshows, athletic events, and festivals like the Sundance Film Festival, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Utah Arts Festival, and Moab Music Festival.

In 2014, visitors to Utah spent a record $7.98 billion in the state and generated an estimated $1.09 billion in total state and local tax revenue.  Because of this visitor spending, the travel and tourism industry supports over 137,000 jobs and $3.9 billion in wages annually.

Check out the report for a comprehensive overview of all of the economic activity generated by Utah’s travel and tourism industry.  Many thanks to the Utah Office of Tourism for supporting this research and to Gardner Policy Institute analyst Jennifer Leaver for her great analysis.

Juliette Tennert is the director of economic and public policy research at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute.