3 days ago
Anti-American sentiment from tariffs is NOT having a major impact on Utah tourism: Utah Office of Tourism
SALT LAKE CITY () — Despite national decreases in international tourism, many Utah businesses saw a successful Memorial Day weekend.
Managing Director for the Utah Office of Tourism Natalie Randall told ABC4, 'In the state of Utah, we know that international visitation is a critical piece to our visitor economy.'
Randall reported that about 7% of the total visitor direct spending comes from international visitation, and about 40% of that comes from Canadian visitors.
'As you're talking through tariffs, as you're thinking about the Canadian sentiment that's coming in, we're seeing at the national level, there's been this reduction in visitation to the U.S., and at Utah, we know that we're not immune to seeing those changes as well, and so for us it's a priority to remain proactive in the space and continue to engage with the Canadian visitor and let them know that this is a place that they can be inspired to visit.'
Natalie Randall, Managing Director for the Utah Office of Tourism
However, Randall also told that there was not a large negative impact on tourism over Memorial Day weekend.
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'Many of our businesses were able to experience successful weekends, full bookings, and many of them were able to find ways to backfill from what you might anticipate with the international visitation perhaps lagging slightly,' she said.
Randall said that there are many reasons to remain optimistic, including West Jet recently investing in a direct flight from Salt Lake City to Edmonton, Canada.
In a recent survey of Canadian travelers conducted by Love Communications, 63% of respondents would still consider visiting the U.S. in the next 36 months, with 42% saying 'yes' and 21% saying 'maybe.'
In that survey, the most influential factors in interest in visiting the U.S. was natural scenery and iconic landmarks or historical sites, which might offer one explanation as to why international visitation to Utah has not suffered greatly, as Utah is rich in natural scenery and iconic landmarks.
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Anti-American sentiment from tariffs is NOT having a major impact on Utah tourism: Utah Office of Tourism
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