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Congratulations!

At our recent 2019 Tourism Achievement Award & Member Update meeting held high above the valley at The Tower at Rice-Eccles Stadium—a fitting venue—we presented our annual Tourism Achievement Award to the Utah Sports Commission. As a reminder, the Tourism Achievement Award is presented to honor members and community organizations for their efforts in supporting VSL’s mission and the larger tourism community of Salt Lake County.

The Utah Sports Commission helps to enhance Utah’s economy, image and quality of life through the attraction, promotion and development of national and international sports by partnering and coordinating with Convention and Visitor Bureaus like VSL, Chambers of Commerce, municipalities, sports organizations, venues and stakeholders. In the past two decades, the Utah Sports Commission has partnered on 785 events with an approximate economic impact to Utah of more than $2 billion with an estimated media value of $462 million.

In presenting the Award, our chair, Chris Erickson, revealed that in 2018 the Utah Sports Commission partnered on 53 events across the state, generating more than $184 million in economic impact to Utah. And that, “We are proud to partner with the Sports Commission to bring sporting events to the Salt Lake area and are optimistic for another opportunity to welcome the world to Utah’s capital city by hosting another Olympic Games.”

I’d be remiss if I failed to also congratulate the team at Snowbird for living up to one of its taglines (and then some) by definitely hosting the “longest season in Utah,” with its final day of skiing being tomorrow, July 4, after a staggering 190 days of skiing and riding “The Greatest Snow On Earth.”

A genuine congratulations are in order to both the Utah Sports Commission and Snowbird, as well as all of our partners, particularly those in the ski industry, for an incredible year!

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 September 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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Salt Lake's Top 12 Summer Events

Beat boredom this summer and bust out your calendar right now by filling your summer days with fun activities, events, and experiences. Broaden your horizon with one of the many events going on around Salt Lake and the state of Utah. You don't have to spend a fortune to forge memorable moments this summer, so quit twiddling your thumbs and find yourself at a couple of these summer happenings.

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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 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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The Finest Farmers' Markets Around Salt Lake

There are several excellent farmers' markets that are regularly held around the Salt Lake valley all summer long (and, often, well into autumn). We’ll start with the granddaddy of them all, the Salt Lake Farmers' Market, and share several others who are highly deserving or your attention and your appetite. Utah’s climate is well suited for excellent produce, and buying local is a perfect way to enjoy the freshest of the fresh while shopping sustainably.

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Tip of the Month: Seasonal Marketing

Spring has sprung and we are headed into a sunny summer so it's time to take a look at your listing on Visit Salt Lake and make those seasonal changes!

As days grow warmer, visitors to our site are looking for different activities than just a few weeks prior, so consider adjusting your images, description and keywords accordingly to maximize your exposure.

Use prominent keywords in your description that will lead more visitors to your listing as they search the site for these seasonal activities. Then, test it by using those key words in the search bar at the top of our site and click on the “listings” results to see where your business shows up.

With 24-hour access to the Member Portal, making these changes is easy and if you need assistance with your Member Portal for ideas for seasonal updates feel free to reach out to Miranda Maisto.

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Days of '47 Rodeo

Quick. Imagine Salt Lake City. I’m guessing you didn’t picture bucking bulls, flying lassos, and the thunder of galloping horse hooves. Instead, you probably conjured up images of powdery ski slopes, scenic views of the Rockies, and the area’s distinct religious heritage. But for one week in July, The Days of 47 Cowboy Games and Rodeo reminds the world that the excitement of the west’s wildest sport has been ingrained in Salt Lake City’s DNA from the beginning.

First off, this isn’t just any rodeo. It’s one of the big ones. These are the best rodeo athletes in the world, coming from far and wide to compete for one of the event’s coveted gold medals, along with one million dollars in prize money. So if you’ve never seen a rodeo in your life, you can know that you’re getting the full experience in Salt Lake City. It’s sort of like if you went to the World Series for your first baseball game, except you can actually afford the tickets and there’s way more denim.

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Meet Our New Member!

• Studio Elevn

Upcoming Member Events:

• Visit Salt Lake Night Out at the Salt Lake Bees
• Visit Salt Lake Member Training
• Visit Salt Lake Member Connection at Salt Flats Brewing

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Upcoming Events

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