A report released on Aug. 20 by University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute shows visitors spent $213.7 billion in 2025, generating $2.7 billion in travel and tourism-related tax revenue.
Summit County’s transient room tax, or TRT, experienced the largest drop of any county in Utah last year.
Park City Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau CEO Jennifer Wesselhoff says the organization avoided layoffs but significant budget cuts were necessary.
“Unfortunately, our budget's down over $1 million,” Wesselhoff said during KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Monday. “So, that meant significant cuts to a lot of our programming. Our staff was really thoughtful about protecting any of the funds that actually translate into visitor attraction. So really focusing on bringing those visitors back and then pulling back on some of the visitor education, some of the destination management, some of the stewardship that we focused on so much over the last couple of years, as we were trying to balance a robust volume of visitation.”
Looking at the past six months, lodging occupancy was down about 11% and the average daily rates for hotel rooms were down about 2%. But Wesselhoff is more optimistic about what’s ahead.
“Rather than looking back at this point, I think looking forward tells a much more positive story,” she said. “Occupancy for the next six months on the books is ahead of pace, about 5% which is really good news. And as we've talked about it over and over, those rates are really starting to normalize. We're seeing for the next six months, rates are down about 6%. I think we’re starting to see some normalization of the market, especially after year after year of the last four out of the five years have been record-breaking tax collections, so starting to see some normalization in the marketplace.”
Wesselhoff says this year’s annual membership meeting is sold out. The breakfast Sept. 3 at Pendry Park City will highlight the accomplishments and challenges over the past year as well as plans for the year ahead. The chamber will also present the Myles Rademan Spirt of Hospitality Award.
