Fiscal Highlights - May 2016

Tourism and "The Mighty Five" - Andrea Wilko ( PDF)

Utah's travel and tourism industry is extremely diverse including natural, cultural, and historical assets. According to the Office of Tourism the state has 14 ski resorts, 5 national parks, 7 national monuments, and 43 state parks. 
Because of this diversity, Utah's tourism and travel sector experienced continued economic growth in 2015, including increases in state and local tourism-related tax revenues, leisure and hospitality sales, tourism-related jobs and wages, and a record number of visitors to Utah's five national parks. The most recent year-end estimates on travel statistics are for 2014 and highlights are listed below:
  • Tourists and travelers spent $7.8 billion in the Utah economy during 2014.
  • In 2014, Utah's tourism industry supported an estimated 137,192 total jobs in the Utah economy.
  • Between 2010 and 2014, tourism-related jobs and wages increased 10 percent and 21 percent, respectively. 
In 2014 and 2015 the Office of Tourism developed the "Road to Mighty" ad campaign and "The Mighty Five" campaign. These campaigns have been targeted to promote the national and state parks available in Utah. In the May Executive Appropriations Committee the Office of Tourism detailed the initial success of the "The Mighty Five" campaign. Preliminary measures show visits to the parks up based on the information provided to the committee. (See Chart Below) "The Road to Mighty" campaign is still in the initial stages. When they report next year the office hopes to be able to report the same success.
May 2016 Content ( PDF)
2016 Second Special Session Public Education Appropriations - Jill L.Curry
Following the 2016 General Session, Governor Herbert vetoed Item 6 in Senate Bill (S.B.) 2, Public ...
Behind the Trends in State Expenditures - Clare Tobin Lence
Each month, LFA staff update the Expenditures section of the Fiscal Health Dashboard to help legi...
Budget of the State of Utah - 2016 General Session - Ben Leishman
Each year, the Fiscal Analyst's office produces an appropriations report. This year's report is a...
Budget Policy Changes Enacted in 2016 G.S. - Steven M. Allred
During the 2016 General Session, the Legislature passed several bills that had an impact on budgeta...
Dredging the Great Salt Lake and Utah Lake - Ivan D. Djambov
The low water levels at the Great Salt Lake and Utah Lake motivated the 2015 Legislature to appropr...
Higher Education Tuition Increases for 2016-17 - Spencer C. Pratt
During its regular meeting on April 1, 2016, the State Board of Regents approved a first-tier tui...
Legislature funds $57 million of new requests with TANF - Stephen C. Jardine
The Department of Workforce Services (DWS) administers the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy F...
Medicaid Used 25% of Available General Fund in FY 2015 - Russell T. Frandsen
Five State government entities (Departments of Health, Human Services, and Workforce Services as we...
New Buildings for FY 2017 - Angela J. Oh
During the 2016 General Session, the Legislature appropriated funding for 10 state-funded capital d...
Office of Administrative Rules - Brian Wikle
The 2016 Legislature passed and the Governor signed H.B. 103, "Department of Administrative Service...
Tourism and "The Mighty Five" - Andrea Wilko
Utah's travel and tourism industry is extremely diverse including natural, cultural, and historic...
Utah Communications Authority Process/Internal Controls Recommendations - Gary R. Syphus
On Tuesday May 17th, the Legislative Fiscal Analyst (LFA) briefed the Executive Appropr...
UtahFutures Adds a Couple New Features while Operating on One-Time Funding - Thomas E. Young
On May 12th, UtahFutures released two new features to their website, utahfutures.org. The new featu...

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