Destination: Davis County

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LAYTON -- The Davis Area Convention & Visitors Bureau board was introduced Friday, minus a commissioner.

No commissioners will serve on the board because it is a conflict of interest with the new contract, said Davis County Commissioner Louenda Downs, who served on the board last year. A commissioner has served on the board since the bureau was organized in 2003.

The county signed a contract with the CVB earlier this month. Because commissioners will now review the contract yearly, it is a conflict to have one or more serve on the board, Downs said.

Chris Dallin, public relations director with McKay-Dee Hospital, was named as board chairman. He replaces Todd Johnson, vice president of operations for CottonTree Management, Inc. Wilf Sommerkorn, director of Community and Economic Development, also will continue to serve on the board.

The CVB presented its annual end-of-the-year report, as well as its goals for the upcoming year.

Attendees also got a sneak preview of the CVB's new video it will put on its Web site, www.davisareacvb.com/. The video shows visitors what Davis County has to offer, including the Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island, Lagoon, nine golf courses, Davis Events Center, the South Davis Recreation Center, Davis Conference Center and the county's close proximity to 10 ski resorts.

The No. 1 tourism attraction in Davis County is Lagoon, said Barbara Riddle, the CVB president and chief executive officer. Nearly 1.4 million visitors went to Lagoon in 2007, a 15 percent increase from 2006.

Antelope Island is the No. 2 tourist attraction to the county. It brought in 281,266 visitors, a 12 percent increase from 2006.

Outside of Utah, visitors came from Canada, Germany, Italy, England, the Netherlands, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Belgium and from all over the country, Riddle said.

The county's hotel rooms saw a slight decrease in room occupancy. In 2007, hotel room occupancy was at 69.3 percent, as opposed to 71.5 percent in 2006. The percentage reflects occupancy from January to November of each year.

Several factors may have contributed to the decrease, Riddle said. One possibility is Hill Air Force Base's lodging was being renovated during 2006, which pushed more of the base's business into the community.

Also, almost every hotel in the area experienced a change in general manager or sales and marketing positions during 2007, Riddle said.

"It takes time to recover and build new relationships with key accounts," Riddle said.

The lack of snow last winter also either stopped tourists from coming to Davis County or they canceled their plans, she said.

The goals for this year include increasing the awareness of Davis County as a destination area for tourists, Riddle said.

"We want to bring more people from out-of-state to our front doorstep," Dallin said.

Riddle said Davis County's is one of four advertisements showcasing the state in the "Meet in Utah" campaign. The others are Salt Lake City, Park City and golfing in Southern Utah.

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