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Tourism Tax Revenues Projected Down 35% For 2020

University of Utah Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute

A recent report from the economic policy institute at the University of Utah shows that in 2019 visitors spent more than $10 billion in the tourism sector.

KPCW brings this review of the data for Wasatch and Summit Counties along with some projections for the post COVID-19 economic future.

Kem C. Gardner Institute Senior Tourism Analyst Jennifer Leaver says they compile data for the Utah Office of Tourism and have reported on industry spending and revenues since 2013. The state lost half of the leisure and hospitality jobs in April almost overnight. She says as of August, the state revenues are down 20% year-to-date but with so much uncertainty, she says her best guess for the year is Utah will be down 35% overall in 2020.

“Despite the fact that August and September were pretty good months, you know, for some of the rural counties, we started to see a lot of people doing outdoor recreation and road trips. And some of our rural counties that are known for parks and outdoor recreation have done fairly well. And even September's looking pretty good, but we still have the fall coming up in a lot of unknowns and our COVID case numbers in the state are going up. So, we could see a big hit coming in October, November, and December. We’ll just have to keep watching.”

Leavers says travel and tourism account for the eighth highest number of jobs in the state. She explains that the report of $10 billion spent by visitors in 2019 comes from the U.S. Travel Association, a national survey and data company.

“So, travel and tourism are not their own Industry but what we do is we look at jobs from accommodations, restaurants, retail, travel. We put them together and create its own sector. It's actually ranked as the eighth top sector in Utah for the number of jobs.”

Summit County employment is heavily dependent on tourism accounting for about 10,000 jobs and nearly 10% of the tourism dollars.  She says historically, visitation has been in the winter months but for both Summit and Wasatch Counties, that is changing.

“Skiers and Snowboarders tend to spend the most per trip or per person. And also, there's the Sundance Film Festival every January where we see a lot of visitation and spending from that. And the other thing I want to mention is Summit and Wasatch have both seen an increase in travel and tourism in the summer months."

Traditionally, you know, they see a lot during the winter but in the last five to 10 years there's been a trend of increasing that in the, kind of the, off-season or the shoulder season.”

She says skiers and snowboarders visiting Utah this past winter spent more than $1.5 billion.

“Which was the second highest spending despite having the COVID shut things down in March of 2020. On top of the Sundance Film [Festival]. You know, that’s generating a good deal of jobs.”

In 2018 state and local tax revenues generated $157 million for Summit County and $20 million in Wasatch County.

“So, I believe that Wasatch County, they’re starting to see a little bit more in terms of people staying there because it's so close to Summit County and they're growing quite fast. They're developing more accommodation options and so we're starting to see over time quite an increase tax revenue there.”

Leavers says 2019 tax revenue reports by county will be available in the next few months. A link to the 2018 Utah Travel and Tourism County Profiles is available for more details.
 

KPCW reporter Carolyn Murray covers Summit and Wasatch County School Districts. She also reports on wildlife and environmental stories, along with breaking news. Carolyn has been in town since the mid ‘80s and raised two daughters in Park City.
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