Olympic host Salt Lake City enhancing its meeting image

Six years ago, Salt Lake City and Park City hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics. It was so successful that both cities since then have been promoting themselves as desirable meeting destinations.

“While world famous for winter sports, the region can be a surprise to first-time visitors who may not expect to encounter such a rich diversity of historic attractions, fine-dining restaurants and cultural entertainment that makes the area a great year-round site for meetings,” says Meetings West.

“The Olympics made a big difference for us and it’s still part of our sales strategy,” says Scott Beck, president and CEO of the Salt Lake City CVB. “We’re now at the adult table during Thanksgiving. People take us seriously because they know we can handle a big event.”

Salt Lake City has a newly expanded convention center, a healthy supply of recently renovated hotel rooms and dozens of new restaurants, nightspots and off-site venues.

Mr Beck notes that some $2.3 billion worth of revitalization projects currently in progress in the downtown area are making the city more appealing for visitors and locals alike.

The expansion of the Salt Palace convention center in August 2006, which left it with a total of 515,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space, has already proved to be a boon for the city, he adds.

“We expanded the Salt Palace primarily to retain our largest client, the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market, but it’s had other benefits,” Mr Beck says. “Between June 1 and Aug. 16 last summer, we hosted 110,000 delegates in the city, including 17,000 with Rotary International.”

Aside from the Salt Palace Convention Center and other large venues such as the South Towne Exposition Center in Sandy, planners can take advantage of several downtown properties.

Value and accessibility are other reasons for meeting in Salt Lake, according to Mr Beck, who says the fact that the city is Delta Air Lines’ second-largest hub after Atlanta means “that you can get here from just about anywhere nonstop.”

“Only a half-hour’s drive from Salt Lake City, Park City is a sophisticated all-season resort town with plenty of arts, culture, fine dining, and nightlife thrown into the mix,” says Meetings West.

The town is equally known for its winter sports amenities and for serving as headquarters for the annual Sundance Film Festival held in January every year.

Both the ski season and Sundance Film Festival make Park City an especially popular destination in winter. However, if groups book early enough they can be accommodated during busy times, according to Ashley Andersen, meetings and conventions sales and marketing manager for the Park City CVB.

“The weekend before or the last weekend during the Sundance festival are good times for groups to at least get a taste of what happens when Hollywood converges on a small town,” she said.

Report by David Wilkening