SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - The state of Utah kicked off a 2.3-million dollar advertising campaign on Tuesday with TV, radio, magazine and online advertisements designed to bring visitors and their money to The Beehive State.
"The fact of the matter is that people are looking for places to go to visit. it is economical to come here so it is not expensive to visit,” said Utah Governor Gary Herbert as he posed in front of the car used in the commercials. "By golly, that exemplifies what you can do in Utah, there are so many things that it is hard to list them all."
About 19-million people visit Utah each year, 75% of them come from the near by western states like Colorado which spends 12 million a year on its own ad campaign. California spends 38 million a year on tourism advertising mostly concentrating on outdoor activities. Nevada will spend about 5 million this year...with a different kind of draw.
But Utah promoters said the family friendly message works. Tourism dollars in Utah jumped by almost 6 percent last year. They said every dollar spent on advertising brings in 18 new dollars in tourism revenue. So the vacation money that comes to Utah...stays in Utah.
“We are obviously a great alternative to those states that have 110 temperatures like Phoenix and others in the summer and people love to come up to the Northern Utah alpine and enjoy that" said Economic Development Managing Director Leigh Von Der Esch.
The commercials will start playing this week, 80% of them on national cable programs like A&E, National Geographic and HGTV.
But the campaign also targets Denver, Las Vegas and Los Angeles; Utah's main competitors for summer tourism dollars.
