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Show Travel Council Hosts Meeting For Local Business Owners RUBY'S INN Some 50 Garfield Gar-field County business owners met with officials from the Utah Travel Council (UTC), Garfield County Travel Council, (GCTC) and others to discuss enhancing the future of tourist industry in the county last Thursday. "Attendance was good and there were excellent presentations," said Garfield County Travel Council Director Bruce Fullmer, "but I wish more area business owners would take advantage of the opportunity." Fullmer opened the meeting by introducing the guest speakers and telling business owners about the displays of information offered to them, such as brochures on national parks, activities in the county and lists of trade and travel shows that GCTC members attend. He explained that packets of information in-formation were available from travel agents and tour companies to help them with marketing their businesses from GCTC Secretary Mary Jane Christy. Jan Elise Crispin-Little, representing repre-senting the University of Utah's Bureau of Economic and Business Research Center, explained recent surveys that were sent to Garfield County and Grand County business owners. Crispin-Little the surveys designed to compare employee wages, employment patterns and trends in the two counties with tourist-related economies. The survey, which was started with Garfield County, will be completed com-pleted in a couple of weeks. She asked business owners to complete the survey so that accurate information informa-tion could be obtained for the study. The survey will be completed in both counties by June 1 and statistical statis-tical results will become available in July. Diane Chamberlain, UTC assistant assis-tant director, addressed international marketing, focusing on the eight international markets the UTC had targeted for this year. Each of those markets has a representative under contract to the travel council who are hired to travel to trade shows in the area and market Utah. They compile market summarys and gather contacts. "Utah's awareness level internationally interna-tionally is generally low," said Chamberlain, but she said she felt the program works better then in years past because representatives are not paid until the projects are completed. The UTC's Dwight Rimmasch explained how the international market works. The UTC attends five to six international travel shows each year. Local county representatives who join them, usually usu-ally attend only two a year. The UTC representatives promote the entire state of Utah. At one recent show, there were 26 separate buildings build-ings with the United States assigned as-signed to one. The state of Utah was delegated one booth and Garfield Gar-field County had one GCTC repre- sentative at the booth answering questions about the county. Generally speaking, he said, individual in-dividual businesses do not get a lot of attention at the shows, thus making it very important for business busi-ness owners themselves to market their own businesses and to treat their customers with respect and dignity, so they might get some word-of-mouth advertising in the future. Rimmasch then took some time to answer questions from the audience. audi-ence. A business owner in the audience asked if Y2K will affect business. Rimmasch said that the statistics the Utah Travel Council had was that the international market mar-ket would remain the same. When asked what affect the Eurodollar would have on tourists coming from other countries, he said he believed that the Eurodollar, which comes into use in two years, will be a positive change in the tourist economy. He explained that countries will have a stabalized exchange rate because one euro is supposed to equal one dollar. Just before the GCTC-sponsored lunch was served, Rimmasch added, "The Utah Travel Council is a participator par-ticipator - not a provider. Opportunities Opportu-nities are brought to the business owner and it is then their choice whether to take those opportunities." opportuni-ties." He encouraged business owners to respect their foreign visitors visi-tors and make their stay in Utah a comfortable and enjoyable experience. experi-ence. He suggested, for example, making foreign language information informa-tion available in motels, bed and breakfasts and local restaurants so that foreign visitors knew exactly what to expect, instead of having to guess, using the English language. "Nearly half of the visitors coming to the county are international," Fullmer stated, "and that is why it is important for the County and individual businesses to have representative repre-sentative at the trade shows so that the international market business can increase in our county." Following lunch, Mark Wade of (See TRAVEL on page 3-A) TRAVEL From Front Page Online Web Marketing, St. George, presented Garfield County's new website. He walked the audience through the site, which contains a full county accommodation guide, maps of the area, and information about each community in the county. The site also list activities and all county business addresses and phone numbers. In the future, any local business will be able to be linked from this site to their own business. The counties new website is www.brycecanyoncountry.com An open discussion period with federal government officials followed. fol-lowed. Fred Fagergren, Bryce Canyon National "Park Superintendent, explained ex-plained the latest projects at the park. He said that curently construction construc-tion is ongoing at a site seven tenths of a mile north of the visitor's visi-tor's center to repair the road and add a kiosk. The project is expected to be completed in the early summer. sum-mer. Also, Fagergren stated that the visitor's center received funding for expansion that will double its size, making rooms for new offices and handicapped restroom facilities. Construction will take place in October of this year. He said a shuttle system will be implemented July 15. The park is currently soliciting bids to run the shuttle system, which will operated by a private contractor. Fagergren said a staging area will be constructed and the shuttle (See TRAVEL on page 4-A) TRAVEL From Page 3-A will stop every 15 minutes at lookout look-out points and the visitors center, as well as the staging area. Cost for the shuttle will include the current cur-rent $10 entrance fee and a $5 shuttle shut-tle fee, both of which will be good for seven days. Golden Access passes will be $10 and Golden Eagle Ea-gle cover only the entrance fee. Those wanting to drive their private vehicle into the park will pay $20. Fagergren also said that access by bus tours will not be affected. When asked how the park would get the word out about the new fee schedule, Fagergren said that additional addi-tional signs would be posted, as well as posting on the internet, and an additional radio station would be set up. He said a normal shuttle year would run from May 15 until the end of September. He also said that motorcycles and bicycles will not be affected by the changes. Greg Hill, recreation planner for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Na-tional Monument, answered several questions asked by business owners. own-ers. He said that new visitors centers were being planned for Big Water, Cannonville, Escalante and Kanab. He also said that some projects that had been completed included new restrooms and a picnic site at the Paria Movietown near Kanab, and also at Grosvenors Arch and Devils Garden. He said that Deer Creek campground camp-ground has seven campsites and Calf Creek has 13 sites. Camping fees were set up at both locations and at Calf Creek, the day-use rate is $2 and camping fee is $7. Deer Creek camping is $4. He stated that these are the only two fee sites in the entire monument. Hill also said that the monument monu-ment has 22 parking areas and trail-heads trail-heads and that, according to statistics, statis-tics, over 700,000 people visited the monument last year, mostly in Garfield County, which was an approximate 30 percent increase since the area was declared a national na-tional monument. Hill stated he was reluctant to say 30 percent because be-cause there were no counters before the monument. When asked about road maintenance mainte-nance on the monument, Hill said that the counties are in charge of the roads and that any complaints about maintenance should be brought to their attention, not monument officials. Those in attendance commented that business owners who did not attend missed out on important information. |