OGDEN — Capitalizing on Yellowstone Park visitation, Davis County tourism promoters will market Antelope Island on the national park’s website.
The move is one of the marketing strategies the Davis Area Convention and Visitors Bureau is using, as it receives $78,352 from the Utah Office of Tourism.
And while Davis tourism promoters look to bring more visitors to Antelope Island, the Ogden-Weber Convention and Visitors Bureau will use the $64,025 it is receiving in state tourism dollars from the same agency for a November campaign aimed at bringing skiers and snowboarders to area ski resorts.
The Ogden-Weber CVB also hopes to take advantage of the “unique opportunity” of tapping into the Phoenix area market as a result of the direct back-and-forth flight connections beginning in September from Ogden Hinckley Airport to the Mesa/Phoenix Gateway Airport in Mesa, Ariz., said Ogden-Weber CVB President and CEO Sara Toliver.
The inaugural flight between the two airports is set to occur Sept. 20, she said.
“It opens up that greater Phoenix area,” Toliver said of the possibilities of bringing warm-weather Arizonans to Ogden. “We will try to capitalize on the new Arizona market.”
In addition, the Ogden-Weber CVB will use the funding to bring conventions to Ogden.
Many out-of-state tourists drive through Utah on their way to and from Yellowstone National Park, and those tourists may have an interest in seeing Antelope Island, Davis CVB President and CEO Barbara Riddle said of the marketing strategy of advertising on the park’s website.
The funds the Davis CVB will receive will also be used to pay for print materials, such as brochures placed at various hotels and restaurants throughout the Western United States.
“We can have the best destination in the world, but if people don’t know about it, they don’t come,” Riddle said.
The state funds made available are based on a local match, provided by each recipient, as part of an effort by the state Legislature to promote Utah tourism to out-of-state visitors, Riddle said.
The dollar amounts the different organizations receive from the state are based on detailed applications provided to the state by the organizations, with the local organization being held accountable for spending the funds as outlined in its plan, she said.
The Utah Board of Tourism Development recently approved 36 of 44 “Cooperative Marketing” applications from nonprofit tourism entities totaling nearly $1.9 million. The office received requests totaling more than $2.1 million, officials said.
The program is in its eighth year and its 10th round of funding.
The Cooperative Marketing program over the years has funded 327 applications for a total of nearly $15 million in out-of-state marketing, not including matching funds and in-kind partner spending, said Leigh von der Esch, managing director of the Utah Office of Tourism, an agency of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.
“This is not a grant program, but a partnership and a dollar-for-dollar match from all regions in Utah,” said Hans Fuegi, chairman of the Cooperative Marketing Committee.
Those applicants receiving the maximum dividend paid by the program — $225,000 — were Ski Utah and Visit Salt Lake.
Other Top of Utah agencies receiving a portion of the $1.9 million in funds was Box Elder County Tourism, $9,819; and Ogden Valley Business Association, $6,000.
The Utah Shakespearean Festival received $33,111, and the Zion National Park Foundation $31,706.
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