Tourism

SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah has the skills, the people and the know-how to host the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games again, two Top of Utah lawmakers said Wednesday, the same day Gov. Gary Herbert and Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker announced the formation of an exploratory committee to consider a bid for the 2022 or 2026 Winter Games.

A new study by Michigan State University shows that Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the top national park in the U.S. for visitor spending.

The "Economic Benefits to Local Communities from National Park Visitation and Payroll" estimates that in 2010 the park's 9 million visitors spent more than $818 million in neighboring communities -- double the $415 million generated by Grand Canyon National Park, the second-ranked park in the study.

As thousands of screaming men, women and children ran for their lives Friday night amid the sinking Costa Concordia off the coast of Italy, Karen Camacho feared she and her husband wouldn't make it out alive.

So, the Florida mother of two young sons waiting back home began to sob.

And pray.

Jeanie Ortiz probably had to give up Choo-Choo’s cafe anyway.

SALT LAKE CITY — A year ago, snow was falling in Utah at about twice the average rate and resorts were packed with crowds of tourists reveling in the white stuff.

Now the state’s snowpack is at about 50 percent of average, and one resort without snowmaking capability hasn’t even opened for the season.

JERUSALEM -- A hard-line Israeli group said Tuesday it was launching plans for a new tourist center at the site of a politically sensitive archaeological dig in a largely Arab neighborhood outside Jerusalem's Old City, drawing fire from Palestinian officials.

LAYTON — The Davis County Tourism Tax Advisory Board has adopted a resolution clarifying its role as an advisory board to the Davis County Commission.

The board adopted the resolution at its Dec. 1 meeting.