Show Standard-Examine- r Ogden Utah O Thursday August 12 1982 O O By CAROL NICHOLES Standard-Examin- Staff er Tourism is expected to pump a total of million into the economy of Northern Utah in 1982 — down a little from the $372 million spent here last year by $30 out-of-sta- te travelers But Sandra Ferguson director of the Golden Spike Empire said “Tourism is on the launching pad in Utah — and Ogden is in a position to take advantage of it This state will break wide open in the next few years — there’s no doubt about it” Ms Ferguson promotes tourism in a y area that includes Weber Box four-count- Elder Davis and Morgan counties She’s not worried by the drop in the number of travelers between March and May of this year “If you compare the six percent drop in room tax last quarter with the rest of the nation we’re not in bad shape considering the economic tenor of the times” More tourists were here in July and the number is expected to increase in September and October she said explaining that the number of tourists is derived from a 3 percent room tax paid on all commercial lodging Many of Utah’s 29 counties are down in room tax collections for last quarter but Ms Ferguson said “statewide transient room tax is up about 19 percent” Tourists spent almost a $1 billion in Utah between April of 1981 and April of 1982 she said with about $1876 million of that amount being spent in the Salt Lake area and $372 millon spent in the Golden Spike division which she says causes competition and impedes progress “This along with the scenery convenience to the canyons ski resorts and other recreation areas has created an unbeatable combination for tourist development” she said Empire About $481 million was spent by Utah She said Salt Lake has only begun to residents traveling in their own state realize its potential as a tourist industry tourists in over the past four years and that the same “Spending by to is Utah this year generate will soon be true for Ogden expected nearly $66 million in taxes” said J Phillip Getting the industry to this point in Salt Keene III director of the Utah Travel Lake City she said has taken 10 years Council “Tourist promotion there is your classic “The tourism industry now employs overnight success story” more than 10 percent of the state’s total The effort to develop tourism starts with work force making it the state’s number the realization that tourism is a worthone provider of payrolls” while industry she said ' Ms Ferguson said this is not the case in As an example she said construction of Northern Utah where the government is the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City enthe number one employer couraged the building of more motels and Ms Ferguson said Ogden is in a perfect hotels generating more room tax to fispot to take advantage of the upcoming nance expansion of convention and visitors tourist boom first of all because it’s close centers to Salt Lake City and has a long history of This along with more promotion efforts leaders working together community brought in more people and started “The Chamber of Commerce industrial another round of expansion she said She said the west addition on the Salt development and tourist promotion officials all cooperate” she said “it’s a logic- Palace is being partially funded with the al coalition” transient room tax collected from visitors She compared Ogden’s homogeneity The Union Station is probably the bigwith the “Provo-Oresplit” or the usual gest drawing card in the Ogden area she urban-surburba- n out-of-sta- te 10-ye- ar m said even though it hasn’t yet been fully developed or exploited y “The area offers great opportunities for summer recreation and the skiing potential is unlimited” she said She admitted that Ogden Canyon does not rival Bryce Canyon in impressiveness h but said “we are a logical for people heading to Yellowstone Park or the Canyon Lands” She also cited the new Ogden Hilton and the acquisition of all of Antelope Island by the state as having potential for attracting tourists The island will be developed for recreation purposes and 80 percent of it is in the Golden Spike Empire four-count- pass-throug- She said the three prime objectives of the Golden Spike Empire are to provide people with information about points of interest and to promote and develop potential tourist attractions in the area Promotion includes regular summer advertising of tourist attractions on radio billboards in “TV Guide” and the newspapers so people hear about them she said “We also promote the fiddle contest the Davis County balloon contest the Avon Tennis Tournament the Ogden Arts Festivals and other activities” she said She said the empire’s work in develop ment is something that no one here really sees “We provided statistical information to developers of the Ogden Mall and the Hilton Hotel” she said During the past few years she said “Our Golden Spike Empire income has increased enough to conduct ski promotion which we haven’t been able to do in the past” She said the ski markets are being developed as resort destinaton in two major markets Texas and Southern California “One of these days jillions of Texans are going to show up at our ski resorts” she said “People will think they fell out of the air and it’s not going to dawn on them that we have spent five years beating the out-of-sta- te bushes” She said the empire has also been working on the bus lines with the American Bus Association and participating in interstate marketing efforts with the the state and Foremost West to create a five state inter- national market place for wholesalers and retailers of tourism “It is our job to do the marketing ground work educating people in the area as to what there is to see and do and then letting the marketing directors of individual properties close the deals” she said Many find that too Youmfis like food eomid lodgimig bull1 seek foeimdliiniess By CAROL NICHOLES Standard-Examin- Staff er Tourists turning up in Ogden comment favorably on food and lodging accommodations but some say the natives need a little nudging before they will show friendliness to strangers Alan Robbins and John Clun of Binghamton NY and Paul Nelson of Montrose Pa said they came to Utah to spend time in the mountain regions and to conduct some business Having toured Pikes Peak and the Grand Canyon they came to Ogden and took in a tour of museums at the Union Station Asked to make some comparisons of Ogden’s services Nelson said “the accommodations are very good” He said however “I do find that waitresses and checkout people are not as friendly unless you break the ice with them But once you do they bend over backwards” Robbins said the highlight of the trip was riding up and climbing down the mountain at Snowbird and playing in the snow during the summertime Clun said he also enjoyed the climb and would definitely come back to the area But Robbins said he wouldn’t come back to tour Antelope Island again “I swam in the Colorado River and I would have swam in the Salt Lake too but I said to heck with that because of the bugs the smell and the shallow water” Robbins said however that the area is full of unadvertised sights of interest “You see the big tourist attractions but find out there much more to see” Jeff Jim and David Luke came to Ogden from Boise Idaho to visit their grandparents Mr and Mrs Harold Dean 345 Jackson While here they toured the Browning-KimbaAntique Auto exhibit at the Union Station They ll - Jobs tied to exports NEW YORK (AP) — 79 Almost of all new manu- percent facturing jobs created in the v United States between 1977 and 1980 were linked to exports the Conference Board says in a new report The analysis released Tuesday said the US manu- facturing industry is becoming increasingly dependent on exports for its growth It said 47 million American jobs were related to the export of manufactured products in 1980 More than 15 percent of the manufacturing jobs in states 11 — Arizona California Oregon Alaska Connecticut Massachusetts Michigan Ohio Rhode Island Washington and West Virginia — are related to exports V '4 also visited Weber State College which Jim 14 said is “nice” and that he will maybe go there some day David 16 who toured North Ogden with his family said he liked the neighborhoods and enjoyed a visit to the mountains “We don’t have many mountains around Boise” he added Tour Guide Josef Sheffi conducted a tour group from Israel viewing Ogden points of interest “People in our group are working people who have come to see how people in the US work he said Meyer Swart of Israel commented on the bigness of the US and the hotels and motels which he said “are very clean and comfortable” Mr and Mrs Bawsan Shabtay and their two sons Amir 10 and Shay 12 an Israeli merchandiser commented on the beauty of the view and the friendliness of the people “In comparison with Israel Washington DC is a big city” he said Danny Fernandez and his son Vashon Paul 7 took in the sights while visiting Fernandez’ father Manuel R Fernandez 2126 Jeff Luke and his brother Jim view antique auto during Union Station tour The boys are in Ogden to visit their grandparents Menard a police officer said he and his wife are thinking of moving to this area As a reason Menard said “have you lived in a town with a popula- tion of 150000 and 99 percent Reeves “My two passions are antique humidity? “The people I’ve met out here cars and any kind of weaponry” said Fernandez who exclaimed “I have been super to us It’s a little fell in love” with the Pierce Arrow bit different than in the big cities at the Browning-KimbaAntique we’re used to At least these people” Auto Museum He said he planned have time to smile and say ‘hi’ to visit the John M Browning Gun he said Bob and Doris Fast of West Coviexhibit Fernandez and his son could not na Calif were visiting their son and daughter-in-laMr and Mrs comment on their treatment at Og955 Bob Fast Fillmore den lodging and eating establish“It’s a beautiful state” said the ments since they have taken their Fast “We’d come here even meals and stayed with their elder if we didn’t have relatives” family Fast who is the city manager of Mr and Mrs Rich Menard of St West Covina said he met Mayor A Petersburg Fla came to Ogden Stephen Dirks whose mother lives because he had never been west across the street from his son’s and she wanted to visit her parents residence Mr and Mrs PM Davie of Mrs Fast exclaimed about high ll w By ELIZABETH M FOWLER NY Times Service NEW YORK — The ponds foun- tains and reflecting pools that are an increasingly prominent part of the urban landscape may be one pleasant precursor of what could be a major problem in the late 1980s — water Indeed the vulnerability of wa- ter supplies has been dramatically illustrated in recent weeks In Jersey City for example a water main break cut the supply to an entire urban population for several days while in Lebanon Israeli troops who control west Beirut’s water supply have been able to interrupt the flow of water into that city at will And last year in New York and many other areas throughout the Northeast a serious drought led to depleted reservoirs and to water rationing for millions of residents What does this mean for jobs? Peter Hofman executive vice r StaH Standard-Exomine- r president of BCI Geonetics of Laconia NH calls the opportunities for various kinds of water experts “outstanding” These in- clude geologists geochemists interpreters of remote sensing equipment geophysicists hydrologists and civil engineers “No question about it” he said in an interview last week “there is worry about water shortages The problems related to water are multifaceted Drought fears are a major contributor along with pollution and distribution problems and changes in the population and in industrial locations” He likens the current situation to the energy problems of a few years ago contending that Americans have been inefficient water users for years because of plentiful sup- plies Now quite suddenly he says there is a dawning realization of the need to conserve and municipalities are taking increasingly stringent steps to ensure the way rest stops which she said are “very clean” and the roads in general which she said for the most part are in good repair “The food is excellent and the people are friendly” she said Mr and Mrs David Grimes of Godfrey 111 were in town with their two children Jacquie 9 and David 5 to tour the Union Station Grimes said the family traveled to the area for a vacation “because I have never been west” Mrs Grimes said she had been west when she was young “and we decided to come out and see the mountains” The couple commented on the availability of tourist information on places of interest in the Ogden area “One gripe we had with the northern section of Wyoming” Grimes said “was that there was very little tourist information until we got to Yellowstone Park” availability of sufficient water before they approve new development His own company specializes in finding ground water for communities exploring for it in bedrock sand and gravel and managing the supply Hampton and Seab-roo- k NH and Putnam Conn customers for which the comwere pany has found new water supplies using high technology techniques he said William T Lorenz a Boston-base- d consultant who specializes in waste water treatment said he also thinks that a water crisis is imminent But “when we have the water shortage it will make the energy crisis look like a picnic” he said last week Industry he explained has al- ready spent large amounts of money to recover and reuse water and even salvage valuable products from water “Industry has been able to afford this” he said Danny Fernandez of Lubbock Texas views cars during visit On stopping at the Utah Port of Entry east of Brigham City they tion adding that future problems will fall largely in the areas of municipal and private water management and utility consumption Utilities usually have plenty of trained engineers to handle power generation but they have to rely on outside companies to handle water and waste problems he said “In the case of municipalities you can imagine they have numbers of undertrained and underpaid people dealing with potable water and waste water” he said The fourth market — private use — is a growing one as homes and offices in suburban and rural areas need new water sources or have distribution problems Denver is one example of a big city afflicted with water shortages Last week Lorenz visited a Denver pilot plant that treats “gray water and black water” (waste from washing machines and toilets) on est in recycling such water universities Some water-relatewith programs Jacquie said the reason she likes of Utah is that “it’s got Salt Lake — said there were plenty brochures and that one publication it’s got mountains and they have had brought them to the Union Sta: snow on top” an experimental basis Just 10 years ago there was no great inter well-know- n d either at the graduate or undergraduate level include Arizona Ohio State Wisconsin at Madison New Hampshire Penn State the Colorado School of Mines McGill University in Montreal the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena Colorado State Dart- mouth Louisiana State and Purdue Sandra Grundfest Cornell editor of Peterson’s Guides of Princeton NJ which publishes career data said she is not optimistic about career opportunities in water management right now About half of all hiring of water experts is done by state governments she explained and hiring by state governments this year is slow “There’s no boom” she commented “but water is a growing career field both in distribution and management” 4 |