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The Summer Season is Here!

Despite the fact that Snowbird’s base depth is still over 100” and the skiing’s fantastic, the summer season is here and I’m excited for all that’s on the docket. First, there’s the multi-season outdoor pursuits available to us, from skiing at the ‘Bird to mountain biking and hiking in our ‘backyard.’ Then, of course, is the kick off of the outdoor concert season at venues throughout our community as well as the seemingly endless al fresco dining options and everything else this time of year affords us.

On the convention side, we and our partners—specifically SMG and the Salt Palace—are gearing up for another busy summer with 15 conventions taking place June through August. Collectively, these conventions are attracting nearly 64,000 attendees who are occupying approximately 162,000 hotel room nights and spending more than $59 million while in our community. Our sales team also booked 25 meetings for the summer season at single hotels/resorts and three athletic events being held throughout Salt Lake County; these events are filling another 37,000 hotel room nights.

Finally, I hope you’re able to join us at our 2019 Tourism Achievement Award and Member Update Thursday, June 20, from 12-1:30, with registration beginning at 11:30, at The Tower at Rice-Eccles Stadium, where we will present our annual Tourism Achievement Award. This award is the highest honor Visit Salt Lake bestows upon an individual or organization in recognition and celebration of their outstanding efforts in supporting the mission of Visit Salt Lake and the larger tourism community of Salt Lake County.

As always, thank you for all you do in support of our efforts and for ensuring our meeting, convention and leisure traveling guests have the best possible experience while in our community.

Scott Beck
President/CEO

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Visit Salt Lake has developed occupancy forecasting models by using STR Analytics daily hotel data. STR Analytics produces a ‘Daily Trend Report’ (DTR). The DTR is a report of hotels’ daily percentage occupancy, average daily rate, and resulting RevPAR. Visit Salt Lake has purchased a subscription to DTR for Salt Lake in two sets. One for total Salt Lake County (approx. 19,700 rooms), and the other for the Salt Lake County Convention District (“SLCD,” approx. 6,400 rooms). By simple interpolation, we derive the data set for Salt Lake hotels that are located outside the SLCD (approx. 13,300 rooms).

VSL has DTR information from January 1, 2012, to the present. Hotels in the SLCD are located in the downtown area, and 98% of their hotel reservation systems are directly linked to STR Analytics. This enables STR to produce its DTR with a high degree of accuracy and provides reliable insight into the effects of events in Salt Lake. Approximately 80% of the hotels inside Salt Lake County but outside of the SLCD link their reservation systems to STR Analytics. The other hotels participate in surveys conducted by STR.

The graph above shows hotel occupancy forecasts for August 2019. Occupancy forecasts are estimated by the number of convention attendees, day-of-week, seasonality, and location.

There are two graphs for each forecasted month:

• Hotel occupancy inside the SLCD
• Hotel occupancy outside the SLCD

The graphs also show historic year-over-year occupancy rates, convention dates, and claimed convention attendance.

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Eat, Drink SLC—Get a Taste of Salt Lake’s Best Food and Drink

Don't miss out on the gastronomic event of the summer at Eat, Drink SLC at Tracy Aviary on Wednesday, July 10th, 2019 from 6:30-9:30pm. Anyone not living in a cave knows that Salt Lake's food scene is buzzing and this is your chance to sample some of the best our city has to offer. All proceeds go to local non-profits, so indulge in some charity, and plan on a delicious and entertaining evening at Tracy Aviary.

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Don't Miss Utah's Arts Festival

Join 80,000 of your neighbors to soak up the festival vibes and summer sun at the Utah Arts Festival, June 20th through 23rd. Revel in live music, film screenings and cowboy poets; discover local visual artists pushing the boundaries; and be on the lookout for giant dinosaurs in the kid’s art yard. Then, enjoy local food, adventurous treats and craft beverage vendors.

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Bike Prom for the Bicycle Collective

Dust off your prom dress, tune your two-wheeler, and get ready for the fanciest ride in Salt Lake this summer at the Bike Prom on June 8th. This all-ages event includes pedaling, dancing, and some sweet, sweet threads. Over a thousand prom-goers will promenade on their bikes from Fairmont Park to Tracy Aviary, which is where the dancing will happen. Get your tickets here.

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Tip of the Month: Google My Business

With the evereexpanding topic of Search Engine Optimization, we are sure you have asked yourself, "Where do I start?” Visit Salt Lake now has the tools and resources to help you manage your digital presence not just through your web listing on VisitSaltLake.com but also through Google.

If you attended the recent Social Media Seminar you may recall Josh Wray presented the benefits and technical steps of managing your Google businesses profile. You can access the full slide deck as well as other past social media and educational seminars here which includes the TripAdvisor and Yelp forum. You will need to be logged-in to the Member Portal to access these documents.

Membership with Visit Salt Lake allows access to these valuable resources and other exclusive opportunities. Don’t hesitate to contact Miranda Maisto with any questions.

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Featured Member:
Mystery Escape Room at The Gateway

The Mystery Escape Room at The Gateway, which is just entering its second year as a Visit Salt Lake member, has some exciting happenings to report. They just received the exclusive rights from NBC for a Downton Abbey hands-on/interactive room. They are also partnering with Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh to conduct research into how humans behave in teams, as they can provide evidence-based team-building training and activities.

If you aren’t familiar with this kind of live entertainment experience, it’s based on group interaction. A group of people enter a themed-room full of puzzles, riddles and secrets, and they must work together to follow the clues that will lead them to escape the room within a time limit. Live escape room experiences are unique, to say the least. You are not just watching or virtually experiencing a story, you are in the story. Many locals and visitors are loving this experience in the Mystery Escape Room, as it ranks #1 on TripAdvisor in the category of “Fun & Games in Salt Lake City," with more than 1,600 5-star reviews.

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Meet Our New Members!

• Eclectic Hive
• Embassy Suites Salt Lake/West Valley City
• Pink Monkey
• Presto Print
• Punch Bowl Social
• Twist Bar Bistro
• Waterpocket Distillery

Upcoming Member Events:

• Visit Salt Lake Make the Connection featuring the Connect Pass, Day 1
• Visit Salt Lake Make the Connection featuring the Connect Pass, Day 2
• Visit Salt Lake Make the Connection featuring the Connect Pass, Day 3
• 2019 Tourism Achievement Award and Member Update
• Visit Salt Lake Member Training
• Visit Salt Lake Night Out at the Salt Lake Bees

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Upcoming Events

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You are subscribed to Visit Salt Lake's newsletters as: mmaisto@visitsaltlake.com