Feds send Utah pandemic relief funds for tourism

The post-pandemic recovery of Utah’s tourism industry recently got a $1 million assist from the federal government.

The Utah Office of Tourism (UOT) will receive that amount from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) to promote “responsible” travel in the state, train tourism-related entities to operate after the pandemic, and plan for the recovery.

It is the largest amount of funds the tourism office has ever received beyond its ongoing appropriations from the state to the Tourism Marketing Performance Fund.

In an online note to tourism colleagues, Vicki Varela, the tourism office’s managing director, said the grant will allow the office “to advance our Red Emerald Strategic Plan and continue our path to recovery.”

The Red Emerald initiative aims to create travel experiences that are distinctive, unique to Utah and highly coveted, thereby “attracting quality visitors who stay longer, spend more and engage more deeply with the local community, distributing traveler visitation throughout Utah and encouraging a community-led vision for tourism development,” the office website says.

The EDU grant is part of the $1.5 billion CARES Act passed last year to support economic development assistance for communities responding to the coronavirus pandemic. The grant will be matched with $250,000 in state funds and is expected to create 256 high-paying and high-skill jobs.

“Our goal is to train the tourism industry in best-practices to thrive in a post-pandemic world, prepare our individual destinations for economic recovery, and encourage residents to travel responsibly in Utah,” Varela said in a news release announcing the grant. “These projects touch on all areas that COVID-19 has affected — our work, business skills, community preparation, and mitigating the impact of visitation on our public lands.”

Most of the funds will be used for a statewide responsible-travel campaign lasting eight months that will encourage visitor support of local businesses, guides and outfitters and emphasize the state’s “Forever Mighty” stewardship principles.

Funds also will be used for an 18-month training program — via webinars — to support tourism businesses, local governments and organizations for post-pandemic operations. The training will focus on critical topics and best practices for long-term resilience. Also planned are eight weeks of workshops with tourism partners to “support local economic recovery and will help the state’s local tourism partners to prepare for the future.”

“As the UOT develops these programs, we will be reaching out to the industry to seek feedback, collaboration and participation,” the office said. “We are grateful to our partners at the EDA for their support and look forward to putting these critical dollars to use for our industry.”