OGDEN -- Media coverage and tourism spending from last week's Winter Dew Tour at Snowbasin ski resort will likely have a multimillion-dollar economic impact on the area and state, event organizers said Monday.
The Utah Sports Commission has estimated the tour, held at the resort Thursday through Sunday, provided about $5 million in direct economic benefits to the state and about $6 million in national and international media exposure.
Sara Toliver, president of the Ogden Weber Convention & Visitors Bureau, said her organization is more conservative than the Utah Sports Commission in estimating the Dew Tour's economic impact.
While those impact figures haven't been calculated, the Dew Tour was undoubtedly the largest tourism draw for Ogden since the 2002 Winter Olympics, Toliver said.
"It was a major event for us."
30,000 spectators
A total of about 30,000 spectators attended all Dew Tour events at Snowbasin, and Saturday's attendance of about 14,000 people set a single-day record for the tour that resumes Feb. 4 in West Dover, Vt., said Jodi Holmgren, a spokeswoman for Snowbasin.
"It brought a tremendous amount of people to the area," she said.
Although the Dew Tour didn't fill every hotel room in the area, it provided solid exposure for Snowbasin, Holmgren said.
As a result, Alliance of Action Sports, which sponsors the Dew Tour, has verbally committed to bringing the event back to Snowbasin in 2011 and 2012, she said.
"Because we had such success, we have every reason to believe it will come back," Holmgren said.
Officials with the Alliance of Action Sports could not be reached for comment Monday.
Live TV
Live broadcasts of Dew Tour events from Snowbasin on NBC Sports promoted Ogden as a tourism destination to a worldwide audience, said Dave Hardman, president and chief executive officer of the Ogden/Weber Chamber of Commerce.
"It gives us an opportunity to get exposure for other events," said Hardman, who estimated the Dew Tour provided a multimillion-dollar benefit to the Ogden area.
The crowning achievement for downtown Ogden businesses was Friday night's free concert on Historic 25th Street by Dashboard Confessional, which drew several thousand people to restaurants and taverns, Toliver said.
"It was fun to see that many bodies and that much energy on the street," she said.
Tavia Van Dyke, manager of Rooster's Brewing Company on Historic 25th Street, said the Dew Tour attracted a massive number of patrons to her establishment over the weekend.
"Both Friday and Saturday, there was a great vibe, and it was a lot of fun," she said.
"We were slammed with customers."
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