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Show There is an obvious spurt of activity in Moab this spring. Early morning business busi-ness in restaurants is brisK; traffic on downtown thoroughfares thorough-fares is noticeably heavier, and business appears to be above that of last year in most of the stores. Chief reason for the economic econ-omic upswing seems to be mining exploration activity, Ths Times learned tlrs week in a spotcheck of stores and supply houses. Tourists are coming early th's year, although al-though not in abnormal droves. drov-es. Residents appear to have more money to spend. With the prosperous outlook, out-look, it came as a surprise to learn unemployment is virtually vir-tually on an equal plane with last year, according to the Utah State Employment Service Ser-vice offices. Last year at this time there were 33 per thou-and thou-and unemployed; this year, 34. Some of this, however, is credited to newcomers moving mov-ing into the area in search of work. Mining exploration activity definitely accounts for much of the motel clientele now, operators estimate. Some say that category accounts for as much as two-thirds of their business. All clothing stores contact ed registered pleasure with the spring . business. Almost without exception managers ' commented it was above that of last year. Clothing trade is mostly local, they note, and the feeling prevails that residents res-idents are spending more freely than last year. Grocery stores note an in- j - - - -r .. '-77' : . ' V -- - -e-- ": ' " V- 1 7 ' vv- ---1 . o - ! i7-r- w 77 P .'. . ' N,-IIJWIilll- J J- i I . ... .-fir if. rnir i- win I--- J George Collins, Desert Lodge motel manager, greets New York tourists, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Kronman. An attorney at-torney from Locust Valley, New York, Mr. Kronman reported that he and his crease in business over the spring of 1967, too. One manager ma-nager estimated a 17 per cent increase. Between 3 to 5 per cent of this can be credited to higher prices, he said; the rest to more buying. Here again, mining activities are credited with much of the increase. in-crease. Many survey parties are buying for uranium exploration ex-ploration work TGS employment em-ployment is high, and interest inter-est in copper has apparently been revived. Supply and parts house managers ma-nagers were optimistic when contacted. Some commented on an increase in-crease in business this spring. All contacted credited the resurgence re-surgence of mining exploration, explora-tion, particularly in uranium and copper, with the uptrend in business. "If things aren't very bright by summer, I'll miss my guess," one man commented. Service station owners all over town are optimistic. Business is definitely ahead of last spring. There is n spattering of early tourist traffic, they note, but mining min-ing seems to be the reason for busy station business. The type of tourist coming in now is a unique traveler; for the most part he has included in-cluded the Moab area in a loop tour with beginning and end points, and time and mileage leeway in between. Early tourists appear to be the leisure travelers. Canyon-, lands was vaguely known n wife had intended to spend only one ! ' day in Moab, but after seeing the country coun-try and taking several local tours, they had wound-up spending four clays in the local area.' many of them when they arrived ar-rived ; some are so elated with the unexpected scenic beauties they stay for days to explore. Very few are disgruntled, dis-gruntled, for they come with few demands. One motel own-' er registered one unhappy couple, though. They had braved U-95 from Hanksville . to Moab in a large passenger car. The' rough road now being rebuilt was too challenging chal-lenging for that kind of equipment, .they said. Dead Horse Point, Arches National Monument, and the paved Colorado river roads, aret balm for the' tourists who cannot get into other scenic areas where paved roads are not yet available.. One motel owner registered disappointment with the outlook out-look for summer business. Most of their bookings are for late summer; one 25-room tour reservation by a well-known well-known bus line was cancelled because the tour guesls "found somewhere else they would rather go." The Moab motel owner said it appeared Moab had been "out-boosted.' These business people toured tour-ed Idaho, northern Utah and California last year and on their entire trip were unable to find any literature on Moab. Mo-ab. Even in Salt Lake City, they said, many people don't know about Moab or Canyonlands. Canyon-lands. "It we are going to fish for tourists, we must dangle advertising for bait," they commented. |
